TWO  YEARS  IN  INDIA; 


OR, 

SOME  MISSIONARY  LESSONS,  AND 
HOW  THEY  WERE  LEARNED. 


BY 


REV.  OKO.  W.  ISHAM, 

OF  THE  NEBRASKA  CONFERENCE. 


CINCINNATI : 

PRINTED  FOR  THE  AUTHOR  BY  CRANSTON  &  CURTS, 
1893. 


GOD'S  MESSAGE  TO  THE  CHURCH. 


"Enlarge  the  place  of  thy  tent,  and  let  them  stretch  forth 
the  curtains  of  thine  habitations:  spare  not,  lengthen  thy  cords, 
and  strengthen  thy  stakes  ;  for  thou  shalt  break  forth  on  the 
right  hand  and  on  the  left;  and  thy  seed  shall  inherit  the 
Gentiles,  and  make  the  desolate  cities  to  be  inhabited." 

—ISA.  LIV,  2.  3. 


Copyright 

BY  CEO.  W.  ISHAM. 
1895. 


ANNEX 


6V  - 

3269 


PREFACE. 


THE  greatest  need  of  the  Church,  aside  from 
its  constant  spiritual  awakening  from  on 
high,  is  information  from  the  fields  beyond.  If 
it  were  possible  to  let  the  disciples  of  Jesus  in 
Christian  lands  see  the  need  of  their  brethren 
in  heathenism,  and  to  know  the  power  of  the 
gospel  to  deliver  them  from  the  strongholds  of 
evil,  in  whose  bonds  they  are  helpless,  mission- 
ary going  and  giving  would  be  increased  many 
fold. 

The  information  needed  is  many-sided,  re- 
quiring fullness  of  detail;  and  it  seems  that 
missionaries  and  their  home  authorities  have 
been  so  absorbed  in  the  work  at  the  front,  that 
they  have  been  unable  to  so  inform  the  great 
body  of  Church  members  as  to  keep  them  sym- 
pathetically enlisted  with  them.  It  has  often 
seemed  to  the  writer  that  if  the  people  at  home 
were  better  acquainted  with  the  missionaries 
they  are  supporting,  and  knew  more  of  their 


4  PREFACE. 

experiences  and  toils,  they  would  more  vividly 
realize  that  the  present  missionary  movement 
is  not  an  enterprise  undertaken  by  a  mere 
handful  of  enthusiasts,  which  they  are  called  to 
help,  more  for  charity's  sake  than  for  any  other 
reason;  but  would  see  that  it  is  a  forward 
movement  of  the  whole  Church,  widening  the 
circumference  of  evangelism;  and  that  the  mis- 
sionaries are  our  sent  agents,  who  can  win  us 
victories  only  as  we  furnish  them  the  sinews  of 
war.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this  little  book  to 
take  the  reader  through  two  years  of  mission- 
ary experience,  and  let  him  learn  some  of  the 
lessons  those  two  years  taught,  in  the  hope  that 
practical  missionary  devotion,  expressed  in  ear- 
nest prayer  and  sacrifice  to  give,  may  be;  to 

some  extent,  increased. 

G.  w.  L 
FAIRBURY,  NEBRASKA,  January,  25,  1893. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  I.— EXPERIENCE. 

CHAPTER  I.                                  PAOE 
THE  CAI.I,  AND  PREPARATION 7 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE  TRIP 13 

CHAPTER  III. 
FIRST  IMPRESSIONS, 40 

CHAPTER  IV. 
AT  WORK 58 

CHAPTER  V. 
A  LETTER  FROM  THE  FIELD 65 

CHAPTER  VI. 
AN  IMPORTANT  EVENT, 75 

CHAPTER  VII. 
MOVING  FORWARD, 84 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  SECOND  YEAR 90 

CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  ENGUSH  WORK, 101 

CHAPTER  X. 

DIVERSIONS, 108 

5 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

PACK. 

CONQUERED  BY  BROKEN  HEALTH 118 

CHAPTER  XII. 
HOMEWARD  TRAVELS, 133 


PART  II.— MISSIONARY  LESSONS. 

CHAPTER  I.     , 
THE  WORK  AND  ITS  MAGNITUDE, 148 

CHAPTER  II. 
PERVERSIONS  OF  PAGANISM 156 

CHAPTER  III. 
PERVERSION  OF  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS 167 

CHAPTER  IV. 
WOMEN  IN  PAGANISM 173 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  CONSERVATISM  OF  PAGANISM 179 

CHAPTER  VI. 
BENEFITS  OF  THE  BRITISH  EMPIRE 185 

CHAPTER  VII. 
HINDRANCES  FROM  CHRISTIAN  LANDS, 191 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  GOSPEL  THE  ONLY  HOPE 200 

CHAPTER  IX. 
RESPONSIBILITY  OF  STEWARDSHIP 210 


Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 


PART  1.— EXPERIENCE. 


Chapter  I. 
THE  CALL  AND  PREPARATION  TO  GO. 

AT  the  session  of  the  Nebraska  Annual  Con- 
ference held  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  Lincoln, 
in  the  fall  of  1887,  Bishop  J.  M.  Thoburn— then 
Dr.  Thoburn — was  present  on  Sunday,  and  spoke 
at  night  on  India  and  his  eventful  experience  as 
a  missionary  there.  I  suppose  I  was  not- differ- 
ently nor  more  deeply  affected  by  what  he  said 
than  were  others.  No  one  can  hear  Bishop 
Thoburn  speak  without  being  impressed  with 
the  simple  grace  and  directness  of  his  style, 
his  entire  freedom  from  conceits  and  affectation 
of  every  sort ;  and  his  masterly  grasp  and  mar- 
shaling of  the  leading  facts  of  the  missionary 
situation  must  furnish  any  true  Christian  who 
hears  him  the  basis  of  a  permanent  missionary 
inspiration.  But  we  were  so  situated  at  the  time 
that  we  could  go  at  once.  And  when  the 

7 


8  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

speaker,  in  closing,  said,  "  Perhaps  the  call  to  go 
comes  to  some  of  you  young  men  here  to-night. 
If  it  does  not,  do  not  think  of  going ;  but  if  it 
does  come,  go;  and  God  will  be  with  you,"  I 
felt  strangely  moved.  And  when  I  came  to  my- 
self, I  found  that  I  was  fighting  my  own  convic- 
tions by  saying  over  and  over  to  myself:  "  It 
does  not  come  to  me.  It  does  not  come  to  me." 
I  had  just  before  this  Conference  been 
through  an  unusual  season  of  religious  refresh- 
ing, and  had  learned  the  beginning  of  what  it 
means  to  be  entirely  consecrated  to  God,  and  to 
definitely  receive  the  Holy  Spirit  as  an  indwell- 
ing Master,  and  to  be  led  by  him  in  all  things, 
only,  however,  according  to  the  spirit  and  the  let- 
ter of  God's  Word.  So  that,  when  I  found  myself 
inwardly  resisting  the  sense  of  duty,  I  was  con- 
vinced I  was  resisting  the  Spirit's  call,  and  at 
once  surrendered  to  go — this  provided,  of  course, 
that  my  wife  was  of  the  same  mind ;  for  I  do 
not  believe  that  God  calls  the  husband  and  not 
the  wife,  nor  vice  versa.  He  might  call  them  to 
a  work  that  would  require  them  to  separate  in 
order  to  accomplish  it ;  but  if  they  were  both  in 
communion  with  him,  they  would  both  be  con- 
vinced of  his  will,  and  reconciled  to  do  it.  They 
would  both  see  that  it  was  the  highest  duty,  and 
would  make  whatever  of  sacrifice  it  involved, 
gladly,  for  Jesus  sake! 


THE  CALL  AND  PREPARATION  TO  Go.        g 

I  went  home  to  York,  Nebraska,  on  Monday 
after  the  Conference;  and,  after  chatting  awhile, 
I  told  my  wife  some  of  the  things  that  Bishop 
Thoburn  had  said  in  his  address,  and  of  the 
needed  missionaries  for  India.  I  said  nothing  to 
her  of  my  own  convictions  ;  and,  to  my  surprise, 
she  came  to  me  an  hour  or  two  after,  and  pro- 
posed that  we  offer  ourselves  to  go.  We  settled 
to  do  so,  and  sent  our  application  at  once  to  the 
Missionary  Board.  While  we  were  awaiting  our 
acceptance,  we  went  to  Weeping  Water,  Ne- 
braska, our  appointment,  and  began  work. 

I  had  been  teaching  in  the  York  College  the 
year  previous;  but  during  the  summer  we  had 
decided  to  permanently  retire  from  educational 
work,  and  enter  directly  the  work  of  the  minis- 
try, as  God  and  the  Church  should  direct.  So, 
excepting  our  household  effects,  we  were  all 
sold  out  and  ready  to  go  anywhere.  After  Con- 
ference, we  were  so  certain  we  were  going  to 
India,  simply  because  God  was  leading  that  way, 
that  we  sold  our  furniture  and  everything  we 
could  not  take  with  us,  at  once,  and  before  we 
were  formally  accepted  by  the  Board. 

It  was  about  five  weeks  after  Conference  be- 
fore we  received  the  word  which  made  us  for- 
eign missionaries.  These  five  weeks  were  full 
of  temptation  and  trial  to  us.  Our  relatives  used 
every  influence  of  ridicule,  argument,  and  af- 


io  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

fectionate  persuasion  to  overcome  our  convic- 
tions. And  some  well-meaning  friends  were 
sure  we  were  forfeiting  the  most  flattering  pros- 
pects of  usefulness  and  honor  in  the  Church  by 
our,  to  them,  "  inexplicable  move."  But  none 
of  these  influences  changed  the  fact  of  our  con- 
viction that  God  called  us  to  go.  Again  and 
again  my  good  wife  said :  "  I  feel  that  there  is 
but  one  thing  for  us  to  do.  I  feel  that  we  could 
not  succeed  in  any  work  in  this  country.  We 
must  go."  For  my  own  part,  I  felt  that  to  yield 
to  the  persuasions  of  loved  ones  against  our  con- 
victions— which  were  according  to  God's  Word, 
and  were  always  strengthened  by  communion 
with  God  in  prayer — was  to  give  to  human  re- 
lationships a  higher  authority  than  to  the  Di- 
vine; was  to  obey  man  rather  than  God.  Still 
there  were  some  who  encouraged  ns  to  do  what 
we  felt  was  God's  wjll,  and  some  urged  us  to  go. 
These  friends  helped  us  greatly.  And  so  the 
days  went  by  ;  and  at  last  a  letter  came  from  Dr. 
J.  M.  Reid — then  corresponding  secretary  of  the 
Missionary  Society — stating  that  we  were  ap- 
pointed, and  that  our  passage  had  been  arranged 
for  by  the  Anchor  Line  Steamship  Company,  to 
sail  in  twelve  days. 

Mrs.  Isham  went  at  once  to  visit  with  loved 
ones  in  Indiana,  while  I  got  our  affairs  in  order, 
packed  our  boxes,  and  closed  up  our  work  in 


THE  CALL  AND  PREPARATION  TO  Go.      n 

Weeping  Water.  I  expressed  our  goods  to  New 
York,  because  the  time  was  too  short  for  them  to 
go  by  freight,  and  hurried  on  to  join  my  family 
en  route.  An  insignificant  affair  occurred  the 
morning  we  left  the  old  home  at  Liberty,  Indi- 
ana, for  New  York,  which  shows  so  clearly  that 
the  leadership  of  the  Holy  Spirit  does  not  save 
one  from  mistakes  nor  render  it  unnecessary  that 
he  should  have  his  wits  about  him  and  use  his 
God-given  cotnmon  sense,  that  I  take  the  space 
to  tell  it.  We  started  from  Liberty  on  our  long 
journey  nearly  half-way  round  the  world.  We 
were '"in  all  haste  to  get  to  New  York.  We 
changed  cars  at  Hamilton,  Ohio.  The  road  by 
which  we  were  to  go  branches  just  after  leaving 
Hamilton,  one  branch  going  to  Chicago,  and  the 
other  toward  New  York.  The  trains  came  in  near 
together.  The  Chicago  train  came  first.  Though 
it  was  not  quite  time  yet  for  our  train,  I  got  us 
all  aboard  it  without  a  question.  The  conductor 
did  not  come  through  till  we  were  well  out  of 
Hamilton,  and  our  train  would  be  gone  before 
we  could  get  back.  We  had  a  wait  of  four  hours 
at  a  station  called  Seven  Mile,  and  were  delayed 
twenty-four  hours.  The  Spirit  leads  us  in  the 
high  realms  of  conviction  and  spiritual  enlight- 
enment; but  an  ordinary  man  has  sense  enough, 
if  he  will  only  use  it,  to  inquire  the  destination 
of  a  train  before  he  boards  it.  Fortunately,  how- 


12  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

ever,  our  ship  did  not  sail  as  soon  as  we  ex- 
pected, and  we  had  nearly  two  days  with  friends 
in  the  city;  Saturday  evening  we  boarded  the 
Anchor  Line  steamship  Devonia\  and,  amid  the 
noise  and  disorder  of  lading  and  final  prepara- 
tion, we  endured  and  enjoyed  what  Bishop  Tho- 
burn  told  us  was  the  beginning  of  missionary 
life.  The  bishop  suggested  that  our  experience 
would  begin  in  earnest  when  we  came  to  the 
luxury  of  seasickness. 


Chapter  II. 
THE  TRIP. 

A  LANDLUBBER  often  has  many  dreamy 
notions  of  the  delight  and  luxury  connected 
with  a  steamship  passage  across  the  Atlantic. 
But  there  was  nothing  of  the  kind  in -our  No- 
vember voyage.  We  sailed  to  Glasgow,  and 
were  told  nine  days  would  see  us  anchored  in 
the  Clyde ;  but  our  ship  did  not  reach  the  Glas- 
gow docks  till  the  morning  of  the  thirteenth  day. 
The  storms  provided  entertainmen£  from  which 
our  good  ship  could  not  withdraw  for  four  days. 
Perhaps  a  brief  description  of  the  trip  in  general 
will  be  interesting. 

All  the  Saturday  night  after  we  went  aboard 
the  most  terrific  noise  was  kept  up  by  the 
lading  machinery,  the  thumping  of  boxes,  the 
shouting  of  the  dock  men,  and  the  hurried 
tramping  overhead.  In  spite  of  it  all,  however, 
we  were  soundly  sleeping,  when,  at  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  steward  awakened 
us  with  the  shout:  "We  are  about  to  sail!" 
We  went  on  deck ;  saw  them  remove  the  gang- 
planks, unfasten  the  hawsers,  and,  amid  the 
noise  of  hurrying  preparation  and  the  hoarse 

13 


14  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

shouts  of  the  sailors  calling  their  commands 
from  one  to  another,  the  steam  was  turned  on ; 
a  concert  of  roar  and  hiss  and  sizzle  came  from 
below,  and  our  ship  began  to  move  and  tremble 
and  creak  like  a  great  sphere  about  to  burst  by 
the  pressure  of  its  own  inward  forces. 

As  we  moved  farther  out,  toward  the  open 
sea,  the  scene  became  to  me  very  impressive : 
with  the  splendid  array  of  lights  along  the  shore 
behind  us ;  the  far-stretching  sea  of  darkness 
before  us,  illumined  by  a  single  yet  resplendent 
light— that  held  aloft  by  the  Statue  of  Liberty 
on  Bedloe's  Island.  The  scene  was  so  suggest- 
ive of  the  life  we  imagined  we  were  entering 
upon :  all  the  multitude  of  lights  of  the  beau- 
tiful life  and  civilization  of  America  left  behind 
us,  the  darkness  of  heathenism  before,  and 
Jesus— the  only  Star  of  Liberty — to  enlighten 
the  gloom !  When  I  sail  out  of  New  York 
harbor  again,  I  shall  have  more  sense  than  to 
imagine  such  unreal  likenesses.  For  the  fact 
is,  when  one  sets  out  to  be  a  missionary,  he  at 
once  puts  himself  in  direct  touch  with  the  high- 
est and  best  enlightenment,  culture,  and  civil- 
ization on  the  face  of  the  earth.  He  goes,  taking 
his  civilization  with  him,  and  his  companions 
and  associates  are  the  leaders  in  the  world's 
civilization.  There  are  also  far  more  of  the 
facilities  and  conveniences  of  Western  civiliza- 


THE  TRIP.  15 

tion   in    India   than   Americans,  as  a  .rule,  im- 
agine. 

From  such  meditations,  however,  we  were 
awakened  by  the  shouts  of  the  sailors,  who  were 
rigging  the  sails,  crying,  "Heave-ho!  heave!" 
for  well  we  knew  that  we  passengers  would  be 
giving  unwilling  obedience,  shortly,  in  a  man- 
ner unthought  of  by  them.  Sunday  was  a 
beautiful  day\  The  sea  was  quiet,  and  none  of 
our  party  were  sick.  By  Monday  noon  we  had 
gone  three  hundred  and  fourteen  miles.  This 
day  was  also  fair ;  but  the  wind  was  pretty 
strong,  the  sea  roughened  in  the  afternoon, 
Neptune  levied  tribute  on  me,  and  I  showed 
what  I  had  in  me.  Tuesday  morning  was  fair, 
and  the  sea  smooth,  and  we  all  felt  well.  We 
made  two  hundred  and  eighty-eight  miles  from 
noon  Monday  to  noon  Tuesday.  r  In  the  after- 
noon the  weather  became  heavy.  A  terrific 
gale  of  a  head-wind  set  in;  the  anger  of  the 
sea  increased,  till  our  old  ship  rolled  and  plunged 
beyond  all  description.  The  ship  did  not  un- 
lade, but  the  passengers  tried  to  give  up  even 
more  than  they  had.  I  think  we  would  have 
cast  our  immortal  souls  into  the  sea,  had  it  been 
possible.  In  penance  and  anguish  that  we  had 
ever  eaten  anything,  we  refused  to  be  nourished 
or  dressed  on  Wednesday ;  but  spent  the  long, 
tempestuous  hours  trying  to  let  ourselves  down 


1 6  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

easily,  fir<st  on  one  and  then  on  the  other  side 
of  the  berth,  as  the  waves  tossed  our  ship 
about. 

As  soon  as  the  sea  became  rough,  a  collec- 
tion-pan was  fastened  to  the  side  of  each  berth, 
about  a  foot  below  the  pillow.  A  most  unkind 
arrangement,  for  the  thing  acts  like  a  stomach- 
pump  !  Wednesday  was  a  very  hard  day,  and 
we  made  but  two  hundred  and  forty-six  miles. 
Thursday  morning  was  a  little  better,  and  some 
of  our  party  began  to  crawl  out  to  see  what  was 
left  of  us ;  but  no  member  of  our  family  could 
go  to  the  table.  We  toned  up  on  Liebig's 
chicken-broth  and  beef-extract.  Thursday's  log 
was  two  hundred  and  thirty-eight  miles.  Fri- 
day morning  every  one  was  better,  and  out  on 
deck.  The  weather  was  favorable,  with  a  strong 
north  wind.  We  made  three  hundred  miles — 
schedule  speed  for  the  Devonia.  Saturday  re- 
peated Friday's  experience  and  speed.  Satur- 
day night  the  weather  became  heavy  again ; 
still,  we  made  three  hundred  miles  to  Sunday 
noon.  I  was  to  have  preached  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing, but  seasickness  .set  in  again  with  the  rough 
weather;  and  my  second  attack  lasted  three  days, 
and  was  much  severer  than  the  first.  The  ship 
had  a  hard  trial  in  this  storm.  We  made  but 
two  hundred  and  thirty-five  miles  from  Sunday 
to  Monday  noon,  and  but  one  hundred  and 


THE  TRIP  17 

eighty-one  miles  from  Monday  to  Tuesday  noon. 
The  sailors  called  it  a  "stiff  gale,"  and  the  cap- 
tain's face  wore  an  expression  of  extreme  anx- 
iety. Monday  night  the  storm  was  so  fierce 
that  the  engines  were  shut  down,  and  the  ship 
given  over  to  the  mercy  of  the  wind  and  waves. 
The  ship  rolled  and  pitched  till  one  had  all  he 
could  do  to  stay  in  his  berth.  The  seamen  un- 
furled a  sail,  thinking  thereby  to  steady  the 
ship  somewhat ;  but  when  the  wind  got  hold  of 
it,  it  tore  it  to  strings.  One  can  imagine  some- 
thing of  the  force  of  the  wind  when  he  remem- 
bers that  these  sails  are  made  of  the  very 
strongest  canvas.  The  waves  ran  so  high  and 
with  such  force  as  to  stave  in  a  lifeboat  sus- 
pended above  the  hurricane-deck.  The  wind 
blew  sixty  or  seventy  miles  an  hour.  The  sea 
presented  a  scene  so  terrifically  grand  that  no 
one  short  of  genius  would  attempt  to  describe 
it.  The  waves  seemed  like  mountains  chasing 
one  another.  It  seemed  that  square  miles  of 
the  sea  were  being  lifted  to  the  skies  in  a  body; 
and  everywhere  on  the  surface  the  waves  ran 
together,  and  crests  were  bursting,  producing 
the  wildest  scene  of  flying  spray  and  dancing 
foam. 

There  was  one,  to  me,  supreme  moment  in 
this  storm.  It  was  about  midnight,  Monday. 
The  machinery — except  the  pumps — was  still. 


i8  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

The  wind  and  the  waves  handled  our  ship  as 
though  it  were  a  bubble.  The  heavy  waves 
thundered  on  the  deck  above,  the  hungry  yawn 
of  the  sea  could  be  distinctly  heard,  now  and 
then  the  shrill  scream  of  the  seagull  sounded 
like  a  note  of  despair,  we  had  eaten  consider- 
ably less  than  nothing  for  three  days,  and  the 
dull  thumping  of  the  pumps  below  suggested  a 
sinking  ship.  The  darkness  was  intense.  In 
the  midst  of  such  surroundings,  I  came  from  a 
sick  sleep  to  semi-consciousness,  and  for  a  mo- 
ment I  was  seized  with  indescribable  terror. 
Just  then,  above  the  weird  din  of  the  tempest, 
rang  out  the  strong,  clear  voice  of  the  faithful 
watchman  :  "  All 's  well !"  This  entirely  awak- 
ened me ;  and,  taking  it  as  a  word  both  of  the 
watchman  and  the  Faithful  Father — by  whose 
leading  we  were  there — the  sweet  peace  of  a 
steady  trust  filled  my  mind,  and  I  prayed : 
"O  Father,  in  the  midst  of  every  storm  of  life, 
may  I  hear,  above  all  else,  thy  Spirit's  word, 
'All's  well!  all's  well!"* 

Wednesday  the  weather  became  respectable 
again.  We  made  our  first  landing  that  night 
at  Moville,  Ireland.  Thursday  morning  we  were 
skirting  the  north  coast  of  Ireland.  About  us 
were  islands  in  every  direction.  The  scenery 
about  the  approaches  to  the  Clyde  is  exceed- 
ingly picturesque.  Unfortunately  for  us,  No- 


THE  TRIP.  ig 

vember  is  a  foggy  month  in  those  parts,  and  our 
view  was  not  at  all  satisfactory. 

We  reached  Greenock,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Clyde,  in  the  afternoon  ;  and,  as  our  ship  could 
not  ascend  to  Glasgow  till  the  tide  rose,,  we 
went  ashore  on  a  tug,  and  went  up  by  rail. 
We  were  much  disappointed  not  to  be  able  to 
ascend  the  river  in  daylight,  for  the  scenery  is 
said  to  be  superb.  Our  landing  was  not  at  all 
an  enjoyable  affair.  Very  strict  precautions  were 
being  taken  at  the  time  to  prevent  the  landing 
of  dynamiters  and  infernal  machines.  The  in- 
spection of  our  baggage  was  very  minute,  and 
we  were  detained  on  deck,  exposed  to  the  raw 
Scotch  wind  and  a  drizzling  rain.  The  whole 
family  contracted  heavy  colds.  One  rarely 
takes  cold  at  sea,  but  it  is  difficult  to  land  in  cold 
weather  without  doing  so. 

We  reached  Glasgow  about  seven  o'clock ; 
and  were  glad  indeed  to  be  once  m6re  on  solid 
ground,  and  to  sit  down  before  a  grate-fire,  in 
our  neat  and  cozy  room  in  the  Hotel  Cockburn 
(Coburn).  The  entire  missionary  party  dined 
together  at  8  P.  M.,  and  I  am  sure  I  never  rel- 
ished food  more  in  my  life  than  then.  The 
food  was  no  better,  nor  was  it  better  prepared, 
nor  was  the  service  more  costly,  nor  the  attend- 
ance more  elaborate  and  polite,  than  we  would 
find  in  any  good  hotel  in  America ;  but  a  con- 


20  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

valescent  from  six  days'  of  violent  seasickness 
has,  on  landing,  an  appetite  so  supremely  potent 
that  differences  in  character  and  flavor  of  food 
are  of  slight  consequence  to  him.  In  one  of 
my  classes  as  a  teacher,  once,  a  tall,  hungry- 
looking  boy  defined  appetite  as  "  an  eternal  de- 
sire for  food  "  (the  text-book  said  "  internal  "). 
And  it  seemed  to  me  the  boy  was  not  far  wrong 
in  our  particular  case  at  that  time.  It  was  so 
with  each  member  of  the  party.  I  remember 
to  have  frequently  gone  out,  right  after  dinner 
or  some  other  meal,  to  the  baker's  and  fruit- 
stands,  and  come  in  loaded  with  sacks  of  buns, 
apples,  and  such  things,  to  tide  us  over  to  the 
next  meal. 

Our  missionary  party  across  the  Atlantic 
numbered  fifteen,  including  the  children :  B.  F. 
West,  M.  D.,  of  Iowa,  wife,  and  two  children, 
bound  for  Singap6re.  Dr.  West  is  still  in  the 
field,  a  successful  missionary  in  Malaysia.  Rev. 
E.  F.  Frease,  of  Ohio,  wife,  and  baby  girl. 
Brother  Frease  went  out  as  pastor  of  the  Fort 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Bombay,  but 
has  since  become  a  successful  missionary  to  the 
Gujarati  people  'at  Baroda,  north  of  Bombay, 
where  he  is  now  stationed.  Rev.  A.  E.  Winter 
fcnd  wife,  of  Ohio,  went  subject  to  appointment 
on  arrival.  They  were  sent  to  Bellary,  a  sta- 
tion in  the  Deccan.  Mr.  Winter's  health  was 


THE  TRIP.  21 

not  good  long  after  arriving  in  India ;  and  a 
little  over  a  year  later,  his  heroic  wife  was 
seized  by  a  violent  attack  of  black  measles,  and 
died  in  two  days.  Mr.  Winter,  shattered  in 
health  and  overwhelmed  with  grief,  returned  to 
America.  Miss  Anna  Thompson,  of  Ohio,  a 
sister  of  Mrs.  Frease,  went  out,  not  under  ap- 
pointment, but  to  enter  the  work,  and  has  since 
become  a  regular  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  missionary,  working  in  Bombay.  Miss 
Ada  Proctor,  of  Illinois,  went  to  India  to  become 
the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Butcher,  our  mission- 
ary then  at  Moradabad.  The  morning  after  our 
arrival  in  Bombay  we  had  the  pleasure  of  at- 
tending the  wedding.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Butcher 
are  still  in  the  field.  Miss  M.  E.  Files,  of  New 
York,  went  out  under  the  Woman's  Foreign 
Missionary  Society.  She  labored  faithfully  four 
years  in  Rangoon,  Burmah,  And  came  home  in 
shattered  health.  Besides  these,  the  writer,  his 
wife,  and  baby  girl,  completed  the  number. 

I  was  impressed  with  one  thing  in  associ- 
ating with  these  yokefellows,  and  that  is,  that 
missionaries  are  not  materially  different  from 
common  Christian  humanity.  They  are  just  as 
likely  to  have  narrow  prejudices  and  foibles  of 
weakness  as  other  Christians ;  and,  as  I  learned 
afterward,  are  just  as  likely  to  make  spiritual 
shipwreck  in  the  storms  of  temptation  which 


22  Tiro  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

assail  them.  There  is  no  calling  nor  life  on 
earth  where  we  do  not  have  to  "  watch  and 
pray,"  and  work  out  our  salvation  with  fear  and 
trembling.  But  taken  as  a  whole,  the  party 
has  so  far  proven  an  exceptionally  good  one. 
None  have  brought  disgrace  upon  the  cause  in 
any  way ;  but  one  died ;  and  but  three  so  lost 
their  health  as  to  be  compelled  to  return  home, 
and  these,  it  is  likely,  will  all  return  again  to 
the  work.  Having  described  the  party,  I  now 
return  to  the  trip. 

Off  Greenock,  in  the  harbor,  we  saw  the 
Great  Eastern  at  anchor.  She  no  longer  goes 
to  sea ;  and  the  only  revenue  derived  from  her 
conies  from  running  summer  excursions  down 
the  Clyde,  and  charging  a  shilling  to  look  her 
over.  There,  too,  we  saw  Ajax,  the  largest 
British  man-of-war,  plated  with  ten-inch  steel, 
and  seemingly  able  to  go  through  almost  any- 
thing without  harm. 

We  were  surprised  at  the  politeness  of  the 
porters,  baggage-carriers,  and  cab-drivers  every- 
where. On  landing,  one  of  them  came  near, 
bowed,  stood  at  a  respectful  distance,  and  offered 
his  services.  As  we  needed  him  to  carry  lug- 
gage and  show  us  the  way,  I  engaged  him.  He 
carried  our  two  heavy  satchels  a  quarter  of  a 
mile,  showed  us  to  an  apartment  in  the  car,  po- 
litely answered  all  our  questions ;  and  when  I 


THE  TRIP.  23 

asked  him  his  bill,  he  said,  "What  you  please, 
sir."  I  paid  him  a  shilling  (24  cents),  and  he 
seemed  much  pleased.  Americans,  when  they 
first  land,  pay  more  than  these  servants  would 
charge ;  so  it  pays  them  to  trust  to  our  generos- 
ity. But  when  one  learns  that  he  is  expected 
to  tip  everybody  that  in  any  way  helps  on  his 
existence  and  plans,  he  becomes  necessarily 
more  conservative.  These  porters  and  railway 
attendants  will  go  to  any  amount  of  trouble  for 
you,  never  complain  or  speak  short,  treat  one 
just  as  well  when  he  rides  third  class  as  when 
he  goes  first  class,  and  thankfully  receive  any 
little  offer  he  is  pleased  to  make  them. 

In  picturing  the  appearance  of  the  towns  and 
cities  of  the  Old  World,  one  will  be  helped  by 
remembering  that  they  were  built  before  the 
days  of  fourteen-story  buildings  and  modern  im- 
provements. Hence,  the  buildings  are  seldom 
over  three  stories  high  ;  and,  in  most  hotels,  the 
water  in  your  room  is  carried  there  by  hand, 
and  your  light  is  a  tallow  candle — this,  too,  in 
the  best  hotels  even  in  London. 

The  scene  that  greeted  us  when  we  looked 
from  our  hotel  window  over  the  tops  of  the 
houses  was  amusing  at  first  sight;  the  chim- 
ney-stacks are  so  numerous !  There  are  often 
eight  or  ten  abreast  on  the  edge  of  a  flat  roof, 
not  over  six  inches  or  a  foot  apart,  thirty  or 


24  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

forty  on  a  single  housetop.  They  are  from  two 
to  three  feet  high,  and  one  can  hardly  imagine 
what  a  wilderness  of  them  the  housetops  of  a  city 
present.  Stone  and  yellow  or  brown  brick 
are  the  only  building  materials  used.  The 
streets  are  stone,  the  sidewalks  stone,  the  houses 
stone  —  stone  everywhere,  everything  stone. 
Glasgow  is  a  drab  city — smoky  and  drab,  aged, 
hoary,  buried  in  gloom  and  haze  and  fog.  But 
inside  the  houses  and  shops,  everything  is  hale 
and  cheery.  The  Scotch  are  hearty-looking, 
ruddy-faced,  and  sparkling-eyed.  The  children 
play  in  Glasgow — shout  and  run  and  laugh — 
have  rosy  cheeks,  and  look  like  rogues  of  fun 
and  mischief.  Even  the  ragged  children  play 
and  seem  happy. 

We  were  in  Glasgow  two  days,  when,  finding 
we  had  a  week  yet  before  we  could  sail  from 
Liverpool,  we  started  for  London.  We  made 
the  trip  in  daylight,  Saturday,  right  through  the 
heart  of  England.  It  was  a  delightful  ride.  I 
was  surprised  that  we  did  not  stop  so  often  as 
trains  do  in  America.  The  villages  are  not  more 
than  two  or  three  miles  apart ;  but  the  through 
trains  stop  only  every  twenty-five  miles,  on  an 
average.  The  villages,  as  a  rule,  are  small, 
often  consisting  of  a  single  row  of  houses  built 
together,  and  precisely  alike.  The  station- 
houses  are  very  fine,  being  built  of  red  granite, 


%  THE  TRIP.  25 

and  having  wide  and  commodious  platforms 
under  cover.  They  are  modern-looking,  and 
quite  ornamental.  I  did  not  see  a  frame  build- 
ing, of  any  kind,  anywhere  in  Great  Britain. 

There  is  much  more  country,  and  less  vil- 
lage and  town,  in  England  than  one  is  likely  to 
think.  There  are  no  spreading,  mile-square 
villages  of  one  hundred  people,  as  are  so  often 
seen  in  America.  A  village  of  a  hundred  peo- 
ple occupies  about  as  much  space  as  an  Amer- 
ican fanner  usually  allots  to  his  home  and  barn 
premises.  Some  of  these  villages  look  like 
barn,  rather  than  home,  premises.  But  usually 
they  are  tidy  and  homelike.  The  scenery  every- 
where is  restful  and  inviting.  The  country  is 
quite  broken,  and  every  nook  and  corner  is  cul- 
tivated like  a  garden.  Fields,  strewn  with 
turnips  as  large  as  Dutch  cheeses;  flocks  of 
sheep,  feeding  in  green  meadows;  men,  plow, 
ing  with  four  large  •  horses,  tandem ;  a  village 
here  and  there;  an  occasional  ivy-mantled 
tower;  an  old-fashioned  windmill;  palatial 
country  residences;  here  a  timid  glen,  with  the 
thread  of  a  waterfall  playing  at  hide-and-seek 
among  the  rocks  and  moss;  and  huge  oaks  and 
elms, 

"That  wreathe  their  old  fantastic  roots  so  high,"- 
make  up  the  picture  of  an  English  landscape. 


26  Ttt'o  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

The  day  passed  quickly  and  delightfully,  and 
at  half-past  seven  in  the  evening  we  were  in  a 
room  ten  feet  square,  in  the  Arundel  Hotel,  in 
the  heart  of  the  greatest  city  in  the  world.  Sab- 
bath was  our  first  day  in  London,  and  I  went  to 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  the  largest  and  most  mag- 
nificent edifice  of  all  Protestantism.  I  guessed 
the  dome  to  be  two  hundred  feet  in  circumfer- 
ence on  the  interior.  At  intervals  there  are 
panels  on  the  inside  bf  the  dome  to  receive 
paintings  of  sacred  scenes  and  persons.  But 
they  are,  for  the  most  part,  blank.  Portraits  of 
Peter,  Matthew,  and  of  one  or  two  other  of  the 
disciples,  adorn  the  only  panels  yet  in  use. 
There  are  also  many  niches  for  busts  and  stat- 
ues which  are  unoccupied.  One  is  surrounded, 
though,  by  superb  statues  of  England's  greatest 
Churchmen,  warriors,  and  statesmen.  The  mar- 
ble steps  leading  to  the  main  entrance  are  the  ' 
length  of  half  a  square  in  an  American  town. 
The  service  was  long,  formal,  and  flat;  and  the 
giant  stone  pillars,  vast  arches,  and  stretching 
wastes  of  stone  floor  chill  one  in  winter  time. 
I  was  glad  to  find  myself  again  at  the  hotel, 
greeted  by  the  promising  odor  of  the  coming 
luncheon. 

In  the  afternoon   we   went   to  Westminster 
Abbey.     We  were  compelled  to  take  our  baby, 


THE  TRIP.  27 

Anna,  with  us.  She  attracted  so  much  atten- 
tion— not  because  she  was  noisy,  but  because 
she  was  a  babe  in  the  Abbey — that  we  did  not 
stay  to  the  service.  The  English  never  take 
children  of  such  tender  years  to  church,  and 
nothing  seems  more  out  of  place  to  them.  In 
the  evening  the  gentlemen  of  the  party  attended 
services  in  a  Wesleyan  chapel  on  Queen's 
Street.  The  sermon  was  on  the  Prodigal  Son. 
It  was  not  eloquent,  nor  striking;  but  it  was 
long.  There  was  a  large  attendance,  and  evi- 
dently great  earnestness  among  the  worshipers. 
On  one  side,  seated  together,  were  as  many  as 
one  hundred  boys,  averaging  thirteen  years  of 
age,  I  judged.  They  were  under  the  care  of  a 
gentleman,  who  sat  in  their  midst.  They  were 
the  best  behaved  company  of  boys  of  that  age 
I  have  ever  seen.  A  work  of  this  sort  could 
be  done,  by  the  right  persons,  in  most  Churches 
of  two  hundred  or  more  members  in  America, 
with  the  best  results  both  to  the  boys  and  to 
the  £hurches.  One  reason  our  boys  do  not  go 
to  Church  is  because  they  are  not  taught  and 
organized  to  go.  At  the  close  of  the  sermon  a 
very  good  prayer-meeting  was  held.  The 
preacher  started  it,  and  then  turned  it  over  to 
a  local  preacher  or  exhorter.  The  meeting's 
purpose  was  to  lead  souls  to  accept  Christ,  and 


28  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

it  was  not  unlike  Methodist  after-meetings  in 
America.  It  was  very  enthusiastic,  being  par- 
ticipated in  chiefly  by  young  men. 

When  we  reached  the  hotel  we  found  our 
wives  famishing,  which  reminded  us  that  we, 
too,  were  unable  to  go  till  morning  without 
food.  We  went  out  in  a  body  to  get  oysters. 
We  found  a  place  on  the  great  street  called 
"  The  Strand."  When  one  of  us  ordered  eight 
milk-stews,  the  man  said:  "Height  w'at?"  We 
found  that  milk-stews,  like  many  other  dishes, 
are  peculiar  to  America.  We  explained  our 
desires,  and  ihe  oysters  were  finally  served. 
But  they  were  very  small — not  larger  than  small 
hickory-nuts.  We  began  to  realize  that  the 
days  of  Baltimore  "selects"  were  over  with  us 
for  awhile.  They  cost,  too,  more  than  good 
oysters  do  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  we  had 
to  pay  extra  for  the  crackers,  etc. 

On  Monday  we  found  a  private  boarding- 
place,  where  we  had  more  room  and  better  ac- 
commodations every  way  than  in  the  hotel. 
We  got  moved  and  settled,  and  in  communica- 
tion with  the  steamship  company's  office,  and 
were  free  to  use  the  balance  of  our  delay  sight- 
seeing. 

Tuesday  we  visited  the  British  Museum,  and 
lost  ourselves  for  the  day  in  that  world  of  an- 
tiquities and  curiosities.  It  contains  the  his- 


THE  TRIP.  29 

tory  of  the  world  on  many  lines :  Of  its  art — in 
paintings  and  sculpture ;  of  its  literature — in 
ancient  inscriptions,  rolls,  and  manuscripts ;  of 
its  governments — in  signets,  coins,  and  seals ; 
of  its  religions — in  images,  mummies,  and  sa- 
cred writings ;  of  its  decay — in  tombs,  coffins, 
and  the  general  dilapidation  of  all  that  remains 
of  some  of  earth's  greatest  names  and  nations. 
The 'seal  of  King  Darius,  which  sealed  Daniel 
in  the  lion's  den;  the  mummy  of  Cleopatra; 
the  original  parchment  of  Magnet  Charta;  the 
contract  for  the  sale  of  "Paradise  Lost;"  the 
Will  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots;  Wycliffe's  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible;  Csedmon's  paraphrase ;  He- 
brew Scriptures,  on  rolls  of  goat-skin;  the 
Arabic  Koran  of  Mohammed,  also  on  goat 
skins;  and  an  endless  multitude  of  similar  and 
dissimilar  objects,  interest  and  bewilder  and 
weary  one  before  he  is  half  through. 

Wednesday  we  visited  the  "Zoo" — as  they 
say  in  London,  when  they  mean  the  Zoological 
Gardens — which  contains  by  far  the  largest  and 
finest  collection  of  animals  in  the  world.  It 
takes  a  whole  day  to  wander  through  its  many 
buildings,  and  one  is  wearied  with  the  constant 
change  and  surprise. 

Thursday  we  "did"  Westminster  Abbey. 
The  beadle,  who  was  our  guide,  pointed  out  to 
us  the  resting-places  of  a  multitude  of  royal 


30  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

personages.  He  practiced  the  usual  English 
boycott  and  dislocation  of  the  letter  //,  and  the 
solemn  grandeur  of  the  ancient  pile,  and  the 
sacred  ashes  of  departed  royalty,  were  not  suffi- 
cient to  prevent  our  amusement  from  becoming 
audible,  when  our  venerable  guide  struck  the 
floor  with  his  cane,  and  declaimed,  in  stentorian 
tones:  "Hunder  this  hancient  halabaster  slab 
rest  the  hashes  of  the  hinfant  Hedward!"  Be- 
sides the  deceased  of  the  royal  family,  there  rest 
here  the  remains  of  noble  persons  without  num- 
ber, of  a  few  literary  lights,  and  of  not  a  few 
great  warriors  and  statesmen.  There  are  not 
nearly  so  many  tombs  and  memorials  of  literary 
persons  as  I  had  supposed.  The  bust  of  our 
own  poet  Longfellow  is  given  a  prominent  place 
by  his  English  admirers;  but  aside  from  him, 
no  American  is  represented.  The  Abbey  is 
somber  and  stately,  and  one  of  meditative  mind 
would  want  to  linger  long  among  its  aisles  and 
chapels  and  ancient  tombs ;  but  a  practical 
American  regards  it  as  a  stately  graveyard,  and 
is  glad  to  return  to  the  busy  life  of  the  great 
city. 

We  wore  ourselves  out,  Friday,  visiting  Lon- 
don Tower  and  South  Kensington  Museum. 
One  must  write  a  book  to  describe  the  Tower, 
and  volumes  to  catalogue  the  Museum.  The 
former  was  once  the  home^of  the  English  court. 


THE  TRIP.  31 

It  was  built  by  William  the  Conqueror,  but  was 
much  enlarged  and  elaborated  after  his  time. 
The  inclosure  is  quadrangular,  surrounded  by 
massive  walls,  which  are  surmounted  by  towers. 
To  enter,  one  passes  through  the  iron  gateway 
of  one  of  the  towers  of  this  outer  wall,  across 
the  deep  and  now  dry  moat,  and  from  thence 
into  the  outer  circle  of  buildings,  which  are 
towers  to  the  inner  wall.  There  are  a  number 
of  these  buildings  facing  the  central  inclosure. 
They  are  solid,  massive,  and  gloomy,  and  were 
used  for  States-prisons  and  as  residences  for  the 
courtiers  who  were  nearest  the  royal  person. 
The  prison-towers  are  dreadful.  One  involun- 
tarily shudders  as  the  creaking  iron  doors  close 
behind  him,  and  he  remembers  that  the  very 
steps  of  deep-worn  stone  that  he  is  ascending 
have  borne  the  trembling  feet  of  martyrs  and  the 
innocent  victims  of  royal  crime,  as  well  as  the 
firm  step  of  confident  persecutors,  and  the  cring- 
ing weight  of  assassins  like  Richard  of  Gloucester. 
In  these  gloomy  cells  the  sighs  and  tears  and 
prayers  of  saintly  heroes  have  been  known  to 
God  alone.  In  this  circular  apartment  hun- 
dreds have  been  racked  and  pinched  and  tor- 
tured in  a  thousand  nameless  ways,  and  all  for 
no  other  offense  than  fidelity  to  the  truth  which 
the  world  can  not  receive.  And  here  is  the  cell 
of  the  doomed.  One  is  forced  to  crawl  to  get 


32    .  Two  YEARS  JN  INDIA. 

into  it.  It  is  little  more  than  large  enough  to 
turn  around  in,  and  as  dark  as  Egyptian  mid- 
night. Latimer  and  Ridley  were  crowded  in 
here,  and  a  long  list  of  others  have  found  this 
the  dark  vestibule  to  eternity.  On  the  walls  of 
the  common  cells  are  many  inscriptions,  'cut 
there  by  the  prisoners  of  different  centuries. 
The  oldest  is  dated  1345.  They  are  mostly  in 
Latin,  and  are  illustrated  by  the  carving  of  the 
dove,  and  other  Christian  symbols.  One  in- 
scription, translated,  reads:  "They  who  suffer 
most  for  Christ's  sake  in  this  life,  glory  most 
with  him  in  the  life  to  come."  Within  this 
inner  wall  of  buildings  are  spacious  grounds, 
which  were  once  the  king's  gardens  and  walks. 
They  are  now  used  as  parade  and  drill  grounds 
for  the  soldiers.  In  the  center  stands  the  White 
Hall  Palace,  the  ancient  royal  home.  It  is  now 
used  as  an  armory  and  jewel-house,  where  the 
crown-jewels  are  kept.  This  jewel-house  is  the 
room  occupied  by  Henry  VI  during  his  long 
captivity  through  the  reign  of  Edward  IV. 
Under  a  great  glass  cover,  at  least  ten  feet  in 
diameter,  and  surrounded  by  a  strong  and  high 
iron  fencing,  the  crowns  of  the  different  sover- 
eigns from  away  back  are  kept.  They  are  built 
up  into  a  pyramid,  surmounted  by  Victoria's 
crown,  the  largest  and  richest  of  them  all.  It 
is  needless  to  say  that  this  room  is  well  guarded. 


THE  TRIP.  33 

The  armory  contains  a  vast  collection  of  armor 
and  arms  of  all  times  and  countries:  goat-skin 
shields  of  the  barbarians ;  chain-armor  of  Japan, 
China,  and  the  Islands  of  the  Sea;  armor  of  the 
Crusaders ;  and  steel  armor  so  perfect  and  com- 
plete that  one  could  not  be  hurt  by  any  art  of 
war  known  at  the  time  it  was  used.  There  is 
also  a  great  display  of  horse-armor,  all  mounted 
on  frames,  and  looking  so  lifelike  that  one  al- 
most feels  himself  in  the  presence  of  a  corps  of 
twelfth-century  knights  in  line  for  the  fray. 

The  South  Kensington  Museum  is  an  exten- 
sion of  the  British  Museum,  though  it  is  ten 
times  as  large,  and  much  more  elaborate  every 
way  than  the  British  Museum  proper.  One 
could  not  see  through  all  its  apartments  in  a 
week,  if  he  were' at  all  careful  to  look  at  things 
that  attracted  him.  A  month,  at  least,  would 
be  required  to.investigate  it  thoroughly,  while  a 
student  could  spend  months  in  a  single  depart- 
ment. One  of  its  buildings  is  occupied  by  the 
Royal  Albert  Art  Collection,  one  of  the  largest 
and  finest  in  the  world.  I  regretted  that  we 
could  not  spend  a  day  more  among  these  won- 
derful collections;  but  our  time  was  up,  and  on 
Saturday  morning  we  took  the  train  for  Liver- 
pool, and  resumed  our  long  journey. 

We  reached  Liverpool  about  three  in  the 
afternoon,  and  found  our  ship  waiting  for  us. 


34  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

We  were  soon  aboard ;  and  were  shortly  joined 
by  the  rest  of  the  party,  except  Dr.  West  and 
family,  from  whom  we  separated  in  London. 
They  went  by  another  line  to  Singapore.  But 
a  party  of  six  missionaries  of  the  Dutch  Re- 
formed Church  joined  us  at  Liverpool.  These 
were  led  by  Dr.  Chamberlain,  who  had  been 
twenty-five  years  in  India.  He  had  also  made 
extensive  explorations  in  the  Holy  Land.  He 
afforded  us  all  much  pleasure  and  instruction 
along  the  voyage. 

We  sailed  at  midnight,  and  Sabbath  morning 
found  us  suffering  from  seasickness  again.  The 
weather  was  very  bad  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay. 
We  reached  Gibraltar  Friday  afternoon,  and 
had  four  hours  on  shore  while  they  were  coaling 
the  ship. 

Gibraltar  rock  is  the  end  of  a  long,  low  point 
of  sand,  running  down  into  the  sea.  To  the 
landward  from  the  rock  it  is  so  low  that  one 
would  fancy  the  sea  could  flow  over  it  when 
running  high.  The  rock  rises  abruptly  from 
the  sea  to  the  height  of  fourteen  hundred  feet. 
From  the  bay  it  looks  like  a  huge  lion,  frown- 
ing on  the  Continent  of  Europe;  and  when  we 
double  the  point,  and  swing  out  into  the  Medi- 
terranean, and  view  it  from  the  east,  it  looks 
like  two  mighty  leos — one  facing  north  and  the 
other  south.  The  channel  is  ten  miles  wide  at 


THE  TRIP.  35 

Gibraltar,  but  the  English  guns  so  sweep  it  as 
to  give  them  entire  control  of  it.  On  shore  is 
an  old  Spanish  town,  with  a  Moorish  castle, 
and  an  English  town  of  twenty  thousand  people. 
The  sides  of  the  rock  are  fairly  honeycombed 
with  batteries,  and  the  artillery  galleries  are 
among  the  finest  in  the  world.  The  largest 
guns  weigh  one  hundred  tons. 

Saturday  was  beautiful,  and  we  sailed  all  day 
in  full  view  of  the  dark  flanks  and  snow  crowns 
of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  of  Southern 
Spain.  We  had  fine  weather  all  the  time  we 
were  on  the  Mediterranean.  One  morning  we 
saw  two  whales  near  by,  spouting  and  steaming, 
and  lifting  their  huge  tails  ten  or  twelve  feet  in 
the  air.  We  passed  Malta  and  Cyprus  in  the 
night ;  espied  Cape  Bon  one  morning,  and 
thought  of  Carthage  and  Hannibal  and  Regu- 
lus  and  the  long  Punic  Wars. 

We  were  eight  days  on  the  Mediterranean; 
and  reached  Port  Said  Sabbath  morning,  entered 
the  Suez  Canal,  and  stopped  for  coal.  Nearly 
all  the  missionaries  went  ashore;  but  we  had 
scruples,  and  so  did  not  go.  We  remained  on 
the  ship,  and  watched  the  Egyptian  Arabs  fill 
the  tender  with  coal.  It  is  a  great  sight.  They 
coal  a  ship  quicker  at  Port  Said  than  anywhere 
else  on  earth.  An  officer  of  our  ship  told  me  he 
had  known  of  their  putting  eight  hundred  and 


4 

36  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

fifty  tons  in  a  ship  in  two  hours.  An  immense 
coal-barge  is  towed  alongside  of  the  ship.  Two 
and  sometimes  four  sets  of  gang-planks  are 
thrown  across.  Immediately  the  shovelers  be- 
gin filling  large,  pliable  baskets,  which  hold 
one  hundred  pounds  each.  These  the  carriers 
take  on  the  back,  between  the  shoulders,  and 
trot  away  up  the  plank.  Soon  there  are  two 
streams  of  one-hundred-pound  loads,  as  closely 
together  as  men  can  move  on  a  trot,  flowing 
into  the  ship.  They  change  men  every  fifteen 
minutes;  and  while  they  were  resting  many  of 
them  ate  their  breakfasts,  which  they  had 
brought  with  them  in  dirty  rags.  This  meal 
consisted  at  best  of  a  rough,  brown,  unleavened, 
puffy  cake,  about  as  large  as  a  common  dinner- 
plate.  They  were  two  or  three  inches  thick  in 
the  middle,  but  made  up  of  two  thin  crusts  and 
a  hollow  center.  Some  of  them  had  pieces  of 
fish,  which  they  put  in  this  hollow,  and  with 
onions  made  a  meal ;  but  most  of  them  had  no 
fish.  They  would  break  a  hole  in  one  side  of 
their  cake,  and  fill  it  with  water.  Soon  the  twp 
crusts  became  limp  and  separate;  the  feaster 
would  roll  each  of  them  about  one  or  two 
onions,  and  seem  to  relish  them  very  much. 
Often  they  do  not  have,  time  to  finish  before 
they  are  called  on  again,  and  they  tuck  one  roll 
in  a  pocket  or  fold  of  their  dirty  clothes,  and 


THE  TRIP.  37 

eat  the  other  as  they  go  with  their  loads.  This 
breakfast  is  eaten  in  the  midst  of  dense  clouds 
of  coal-dust,  and  without  washing  of  face  or 
hands.  As  soon  as  their  work  is  done,  many 
of  them  throw  over  their  shoulders  some  old 
blanket  or  coat,  and  lie  down  on  the  floor,  or 
edge  of  the  barge,  and  go  right  to  sleep  in 
the  sun. 

We  spent  Sunday  in  the  Suez  Canal,  amid 
scenes  of  the  greatest  interest.  Millions  of 
pelicans  waded  in  the  shallow  waters  about  the 
north  end  of  the  canal.  Here  we  cross  a  Jeru- 
salem caravan-road  at  the  ferry.  Here  is  an 
Arab  village,  and  near  it  an  immense  dredging- 
machine  is  deepening  and  broadening  the  canal. 
A  herd  of  seventy-five  or  a  hundred  camels 
are  laden  with  big  baskets,  which  the  Arabs 
are  filling  with  sand  that  has  banked  up  along 
the  edge  of  the  canal.  These  camels  will  carry 
it  back  to  the  desert.  Here  comes  a  caravan 
from  Egypt  to  Jerusalem.  And  away  the  desert- 
wastes  stretch  in  every  direction,  in  limitless 
monotony,  save  for  the  enchanting  illusion — the 
mirage — whose  lakes  and  cities  and  groves  are 
ever  fleeing  and  melting  away,  and  rising  in 
renewed  splendor  beyond.  It  was  a  charmed 
day  to  us. 

It  is  very  expensive  to  keep  this  canal  open, 
and  one  can  readily  see  why  the  old   canal  of 


38  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

the  Ptolemys  was  so  often  abandoned  and  re- 
opened. This,  the  first  ship-canal  in  the  world, 
connected  the  Nile  with  the  Red  Sea,  and  was 
at  one  time  ninety-two  miles  long.  It  was  con- 
structed first  by  one  of  the  Pharaohs,  but  merely 
to  convey  water.  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  first 
enlarged  it  to  a  ship  canal.  It  was  abandoned 
for  a  time,  and  the  Emperor  Trajan  reopened 
and  lengthened  it.  After  the  fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire  it  again  fell  into  disuse,  until  Omar,  the 
great  Mohammedan,  again  reopened  it,  about 
A.  D.  600.  Of  course  this  old  canal  had  noth- 
ing more  to  do  with  the  present  than  to  forcibly 
suggest  it,  though  the  part  of  it  south  of  the 
Bitter  Lakes  follows  about  the  same  course. 
The  sand  is  blown  and  washed  in,  and  fills  it 
continually.  The  walls  last  but  a  short  time, 
and  are  continually  being  replaced.  The  toll 
paid  by  our  ship  for  this  single  passage  was 
about  five  thousand  dollars.  The  amount  is 
determined  partly  by  the  tonnage  of  the  ship, 
partly  by  the  weight  of  the  cargo,  and  partly  by 
the  number  of  passengers.  The  canal  is  eighty 
miles  long. 

We  stopped  but  a  few  minutes  off  Suez,  at 
the  south  end  of  the  canal,  Monday  morning. 
We  spent  the  week  in  the  Red  Sea  till  Satur- 
day night.  The  weather  was  hot,  and,  toward 
the  end  of  the  week,  boisterous.  When  we 


THE  TRIP.  39 

entered  the  Red  Sea  a  double  awning  was 
drawn  over  the  passenger  part  of  the  ship,  and 
we  spent  most  of  the  time  on  deck.  Some  of 
us  slept  on  deck,  when  there  was  not  too  much 
wind  and  spray.  We  came  out  into  the  Arabian 
Sea  on  Sunday  morning,  Christmas-day ;  sighted 
Aden  in  the  distance,  but  did  not  stop.  One 
^of  the  officers  told  us  of  an  Irishman,  who  re- 
marked, when  he  saw  this  sea  town,  surrounded 
by  its  desolate  and 'burning  wastes:  "And  this 
is  Aden?  Little  wonther  Mother  Ave  was  dis- 
continted !  Oi  'd  ate  anything  to  get  out  of  such 
a  place !"  After  ten  days  more  of  varied  experi- 
ence, much  storm  and  seasickness,  we  reached 
Bombay,  January  3,  1888. 


Chapter  III. 
FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 

WE  were  met  on  the  ship  by  Revs.  A.  W. 
Prautch ;  J.  E.  Robinson,  presiding  elder 
of  the  Bombay  District;  and  Dr.  Butcher,  the 
expectant  bridegroom.  .  They  gave  us  a  hearty 
welcome,  and  Brother  Prautch  helped  us  greatly 
in  landing.  It  is  difficult  for  two  persons  who 
can  not  understand  each  other,  to  keep  from 
raising  the  voice  in  the  effort  to  be  understood. 
There  were  several  missionaries,  and  Brother 
Prautch  was  called  here  and  there  to  help 
them.  Some  of  us  tried  to  express  our  desires 
to  the  native  cartmen  and  coachmen  without 
the  aid  of  an  interpreter.  At  different  times 
the  eye  of  some  amused  looker-on  led  me  to 
realize  that  I  was  throwing  my  arms  in  the 
wildest  fashion,  and  trying  to  out-yell  a  great 
crowd  of  Coolies  and  Ghariwallahs.  It  was 
raining  very  hard  when  we  landed,  an  unusual 
thing  for  Western  India  at  that  season  of  the 
year. 

We  were  taken  to  a  hotel,  which  I  suppose 
was  as  good  as  the  average  in  India,  but  which 
seemed  to  us,  like  everything  else,  exceedingly 
40 


* 

I 

i\ 
FIRST  IMPRESSIONS.  41 

filthy.  The  ground-floor  looked  and  smelt  like 
a  cow-stable;  indeed,  the  whole  city  seemed  to 
us  to  be  pervaded  by  such  an  odor. 

When  we  were  shown  to  our  room,  to  our 
surprise,  our  bed  had  no  sheets,  pillows,  or 
covers  on  it.  We  learned,  on  inquiry,  that 
travelers  in  India  always  furnish  their  own  bed- 
ding; and  no  one  would  think  of  using  bed- 
clothing  in  common  use  as  in  this  country. 
This  is  because  of  the  prevalence  of  skin  and 
other  diseases.  Even  when  visiting  a  friend, 
one  takes  his  own  bedding.  We  were  in  a 
strait;  for  we  had  packed  our  bedding  in  large 
boxes,  which  we  could  not  well  get  at.  But  we 
managed  it  some  way,  and  retired,  only  to  spend 
a  sorry  night  fighting  bugs.  Mrs.  Isham  had 
never  seen  one  of  these  pests,  and  I  really  did 
not  know  what  was  annoying  us;  but  we  after- 
ward learned  that  they  are  so  common  in  India 
that  "bug"  means  bedbug,  and  one  is  so  under- 
stood when  he  uses  the  word.  Other  bugs  are 
properly  called  beetles.  A  gentleman  said  he 
had  often  complained  to  his  landlord  of  being 
tormented  by  bugs  at  night,  and  finally  the 
landlord  said:  "Well,  I  don't  know  what  can 
be  done.  They  are  just  as  bad  in  my  bed  as 
in  yours!"  And  this  was  in  one  of  the  best 
English  hotels  in  Bombay.  They  can  be  kept 
out  only  by  the  most  constant  care,  even  in 


42  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

private  homes.  I  have  frequently  visited  in 
homes  of  well-to-do  people,  and  seen  them  in 
daylight,  crawling  on  drawing-room  furniture 
and  on  the  dress  of  the  lady  of  the  house.  We 
"spent  but  one  unhappy  night  in  the  hotel,  when 
Dr.  Salini  Armstrong  and  her  sister,  of  Ne- 
braska, called,  and  invited  us  to  share  their 
hospitality  while  we  were  detained  in  Bombay. 
We  gladly  accepted,  and  could  not  have  asked 
for  more  comfortable  and  cleanly  quarters  and 
Christian-like  entertainment. 

No  one  without  experience  can  realize  how 
powerful  and  hurtful  is  the  tropical  sun.  We 
took  every  precaution,  wore  double  hats,  and 
carried  heavy  double  umbrellas;  and  yet,  from 
the  first  day,  Mrs.  Isham  had  sun-headaches,  and 
I  had  a  sun-chill  the  second  night  after  landing. 

We  were  in  Bombay  more  than  three  weeks, 
waiting  for  the  meeting  of  the  South  India  Con- 
ference. This  was  a  time  of  the  greatest  trial 
and  temptation."  We  had  nothing  to  do.  The 
missionaries  were  all  very  busy 'with  their  work, 
closing  up  the  year.  As  we  were  not  going  to 
stay  in  Bombay,  and  the  language  would  be 
different  where  we  were  sent,  it  was  useless  to 
begin  the  study  of  the  language.  We  went 
about  sight-seeing,  and  studying  the  peoples, 
their  customs,  and  peculiar  institutions,  as  well 
as  we  could.  Under  the  most  favorable  circum- 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS.  43 

stances,  the  pressure  of  heathenism  is  very 
heavy  on  the  faith  of  the  inexperienced  mission- 
ary. One  feels  so  alone  in  the  midst  of  these 
vast  crowds  of  heathen !  He  feels  that  it  is  al- 
most presumptuous  for  him  to  say  that  he  has 
the  true  faith,  and  all  these  surging  thousands 
are  wrong.  And  then  he  feels  so  far  away  from 
them.  He  can  not  speak  their  language;  he  can 
not  make  them  understand  his  signs,  for  their 
gestures  are  so  different  from  ours.  Theirs  are 
graceful  and  expressive,  and  make  ours  seem 
stiff  and  angular.  And  then,  the  looks  of  min- 
gled suspicion,  fear,  and  indifference  from  those 
one  wishes  to  help,  the  frauds  he  is  such  an  easy 
victim  to,  and  a  thousand  other  such  experiences, 
have  a  very  cooling  effect  on  his  zeal,  and  rest 
like  mountain-weights  upon  his  faith.  It  is  a 
new  and  entirely  different  experience  in  the  life 
of  the  missionary.  He  begins  to  realize  how 
many  stays  and  props  one  has  at  home  to 
keep  him  on  the  way.  The  support  of  pastor 
and  brethren  in  the  fellowship  of  the  Church 
the  prevalence,  authority,  and  popularity  of 
Christianity — which  give  it  the  sweep  of  a 
mighty  current  to  carry  one  toward  faith — 
and  all  such  kindred  helps,  are  at  first  very  much 
missed.  But  all  this  trial  is  exceedingly  bene- 
ficial. The  missionary  finds  himself  between 
Jesus  and  heathenism,  with  all  its  woe  and  evil ; 


44  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

and,  if  he  be  a  true  Christian,  he  conies  into  a 
much  closer  fellowship  with  the  Savior  than  he 
has  ever  known  before.  In  the  past  he  has 
depended  so  much  on  the  Church  and  its  agen- 
cies and  fellowships ;  now  he  must  walk  with 
Christ  alone  in  his  spiritual  life,  and  go  between 
Christ  and  his  fellow-man  in  his  life  of  minister- 
ing. One  of  the  weakest  points  in  American 
Christian  character  is  this  lack  of  independent 
reliance  upon  the  Savior.  Unless  we  have 
everything  to  our  taste  and  everybody  agree- 
able, it  is  next  to  impossible  for  us  to  work  and 
rejoice ;  and  many  of  us  can  do  nothing,  except 
when  wrought  up  through  some  sensational 
means.  % 

Besides  this  soul-depression  of  heathenism, 
there  were  at  the  time  peculiar  conditions  in 
the  work  in  South  India ;  and  considerable  dis- 
satisfied and  discouraging  talk  was  indulged  in 
by  some  of  the  missionaries  we  met  in  Bombay. 
The  work  in  So'uth  India  had  been  opened  by 
Bishop  Wm.  Taylor  during  his  four  years'  cam- 
paign in  that  country,  and  had  moved  forward 
on  the  self-support  principle  until  the  Confer- 
ence of  1887,  when  it  was  decided  to  accept  the 
offered  subsidies  of  the  Missionary  Society. 
The  work  was  in  the  transition  state  when  we 
landed.  The  Conference  of  '88  was  the  twelfth 
session,  and  the  work  was  started  by  Wm. 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS.  45 

Taylor  in  '74;  so  that  there  had  been  fourteen 
years  of  the  trials  and  triumphs  of  self-support 
before  very  much  help  came  from  America. 
Hence,  the  work  to  this  time  had  been  carried 
on  mostly  among  the  English  and  Eurasians, 
because  they  were  the  only  people  in  India  who 
could  be  induced  to  support  the  work.  To  our 
surprise,  the  missionaries  had  so  completely  de- 
voted their  time  to  the  English,  and  had  changed 
about  so  much,  that  very  few  of  them  had  mas- 
tered a  native  language  so  far  as  to  be  able  to 
preach  in  it ;  and  it  did  not  seem  to  us  that  they 
were  any  more  missionaries  than  if  they  were 
preaching  in  America.1  Furthermore,  it  was 
pretty  clear  that  we  were  to  be  put  at  this 
English  work  for  a  time ;  and  this  was  the 
sorest  of  disappointments  to  us  then.  But  now 
it  is  a  matter  of  thanksgiving;  for  we  afterward 
learned  that  there  is  no  more  important  nor  di- 
rectly missionary  work  in  India  than  this  among 
the  English-speaking  classes.  While  engaged 
in  this  work,  we  were  supported  by  the  people, 
and  not  by  American  missionary  money ;  so 
that  we  do  not  now  have  the  regret  of  having 
put  the  Missionary  Society  to  a  large  expense 
for  no  service  from  us.  We  were  not  only 
supported  by  our  Church,  but  raised  five  hun- 
dred dollars  in  the  two  years  for  missionary 
work  right  in  the  field,  and  so  supported  a  large 


46  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

native  work  of  schools,  Sunday-schools,  preach- 
ing, and  literature  work,  which  we  directed 
through  assistants.  By  going  into  the  English 
work,  we  were  able  to  begin  at  once,  and  so 
were  useful  for  the  time  we  were  there ;  while 
those  of  our  party  who  were  to  enjoy  the  great 
privilege  of  remaining  steadily  in  the  field  were 
given  appointments  to  the  native  stations. 
Whatever  may  be  said  pro  or  con  of  self-sup- 
port as  a  principle  in  the  world's  evangelism, 
one  thing  is  certainly  clear — that,  following 
this  principle,  Bishop  Taylor  has  committed  our 
Church  to  a  vast  work  which,  in  atl  probability, 
it  would  never  otherwise  have  undertaken.  And 
as  we  see  it  now,  after  some  experience  and  ob- 
servation, we  believe  it  was  through  God's  lead- 
ing, and  not  by  the  choice  of  man,  that  this 
great  work  has  been  committed  to  us  as  a 
Church. 

On  Sundays,  while  we  were  waiting,  I  usually 
preached  once  or  twice  in  one  of  our  three 
English  churches  in  Bombay.  I  preached  my 
first  sermon  in  the  Mazagon  Church,  and  cre- 
ated a  little  amusement  by  speaking  of  the  fa- 
tality of  having  one  lack.  I  was  preaching  on 
the  Savior's  words  to  the  rich  young  man. 
After  the  service,  a  brother  remarked  that  he 
did  not  know  about  America,  but  in  India  one 
lakh  was  considered  a  good  thing  to  have.  Lakh 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS.  47 

means  one  hundred  thousand,  and  is  especially 
applied  to  that  number  of  rupees.  This  error 
is  not  so  grievous  in  comparison  with  some  that 
are  made.  There  are  so  many  words  almost 
identical  in  sound  and  form  that  have  very 
different  meanings,  that  very  ludicrous  blunders 
are  to  be  expected  of  new  missionaries.  We 
were  told  a  number  of  times  in  India  that,  for  a 
long  time,  the  doxology  was  sung  in  one  lan- 
guage, "  Praise  God  from  whom  all  sausages 
flow,"  until  at  last  a  missionary  noticed  the 
error.  And  a  noted  missionary  told  us  that,  in 
his  early  experience,  while  on  a  missionary  tour, 
he  was  giving  his  cook  directions  about  pre- 
paring a  meal.  He  told  him,  as  he  thought,  to 
go  to  the  village,  and  get  a  fowl  and  dress  it. 
The  cook  showed  such  evident  bewilderment 
that  he  suspected  he  had  blundered.  On  in- 
quiry, he  found  he  had  told  the  cook  to  go  to 
hades,  and  get  a  boy  and  dress  it.  The  natives 
will  very  rarely  show  before  one's  face  that  they 
notice  a  mistake ;  but  after  an  interview  with  a 
blunderer  alone,  or  with  their  fellows,  they  give 
vent  to  their  amusement. 

And  so  the  days  went  by,  and  finally  we  re- 
paired to  Poonah  to  attend  the  session  of  Con- 
ference. The  Conference  had  then  about  thirty 
members.  Their  physical  condition,  as  regis- 
tered in  their  faces,  was  by  no  means  encour- 


48  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

aging.  One  brother  had  just  recovered  from 
cholera;  another  was  shaking,  before  our  eyes, 
with  a  daily  malarial  chill;  two  others  were 
about  to  return  to  America  in  shattered  health; 
and,  with  very  few  exceptions,  every  one  looked 
pallid  and  sick.  The  contrast  in  appearance 
between  those  of  us  who  had  just  landed  and 
those  who  had  been  years  in  the  field,  was,  in 
point  of  health,  strikingly  in  our  favor;  but 
there  was  no  heart-sickness  nor  spiritual  ma- 
laria noticeable.  Every  one  was  hopeful,  buoy- 
ant, joyful;  and  even  those  who  were  sick 
attended  the  sessions  and  served  on  the  com- 
mittees. They  were,  for  the  most  part,  a  com- 
pany of  heroes,  seasoned  and  tried  amid .  the 
privations  and  vicissitudes  of  the  years  of  self- 
support.  Most  of  them  are  still  in  the  field, 
and  are  laying  the  foundations  of  Christ's  king- 
dom broad  and  strong  to  save  the  millions.  I 
would  rather  have  a  humble  place  in  their  ranks 
than  to  enjoy  all  the  comforts  and  associations 
and  hpnors  American  life  affords. 

We  were  entertained  at  the  home  of  Rev. 
Mr.  Sorabjee,  a  converted  Parsee,  and  a  minister 
of  the  Church  of  England.  Of  course  there 
were  some  things  in  the  home  customs  and 
manners  of  these  native  people  that  were 
strange  to  us,  but  we  were  never  more  royally 
entertained.  Mr.  Sorabjee  was  absent,  but  his 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS.  49 

cultured  wife  and  daughters  left  nothing  undone 
that  we  could  have  asked  for.  Each  member 
of  the  family  was  engaged  directly  in  mission- 
ary, evangelistic,  or  educational  work.  One  of 
the  daughters  was  the  first  lady  in  the  Bombay 
Presidency  to  receive  the  B.  A.  degree.  She 
had  been  presented  to  the  queen ;  and  the  mother 
had  traveled  and  lectured  in  England,  and  raised 
large  sums  of  money  for  mission-work.  But 
there  was  not  the  slightest  show  made  of  these 
things,  nor  any  ostentation  in  anything.  This 
was  a  model  home;  the  Bible  was  thoroughly 
studied  daily,  privately  and  in  the  .family  circle; 
and  no  one  can  estimate  the  influence  for  good 
exerted  in  the  midst  of  heathenism  by  such  de- 
voted and  active  lives. 

Mrs.  Sorabjee  arranged  for  us  to  take  tea  at 
the  home  of  a  wealthy  Parsee  widow — Mrs. 
Wadai.  Here  we  met  only  ladies:  the  mother, 
wearing  the  white  cap  of  widowhood,  and  her 
beautiful  and  graceful  daughters.  The  house 
was  large,  and  richly  furnished,  though  quite 
differently  from  an  American  mansion.  The 
floor  and  walls  were  marble,  the  latter  being 
decorated,  in  each  room,  by  life-size  paintings 
of  the  deceased  head  of  the  family.  We  had  a 
very  delicate  and  delicious  tea,  at  which  Madam 
Wadai  presided  with  all  the  dignity  and  grace 
of  the  first  lady  of  the  land.  After  tea  she  con- 

4 


50  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

ducted  us  through  the  house,  bringing  us  at 
last  to  her  own  private  study — an  airy  and  deli- 
cately ornamented  little  room.  She  drew  out  a 
secret  drawer  in  her  secretary,  and  showed  us 
her  Bible,  which  we  well  knew  from  her  con- 
versation she  had  been  studying,  though  se- 
cretly, for  fear  of  her  people.  This  Bible  had 
found  its  way  into  this  home,  and  its  light  to 
the  hearts  of  these  women,  through  the  patient 
influence  of  good  Mother  Sorabj^e.  Mrs.  Wadai 
was  very  wealthy,  having  three  other  splendid 
mansions,  at  different  altitudes,  enabling  her  to 
live  in  a  delightful  climate  the  year  round. 
When  we  left  she  gave  us  her  photograph,  which 
we  still  prize  very  highly. 

Through  the  kindness  of  Brother  Prautch,  I 
got  to  visit  the-high-priest  of  all  the  Parsee  fire- 
temples  of  the  Deccan,  who  resides  in  the  winter 
in  Poonah.  He  lives  in  a  splendid  mansion, 
surrounded  by  a  very  park  of  drives  and  orna- 
mental shrubbery.  He  received  us  very  cor- 
dially, having  met  Mr.  Prautch  once  before  in 
a  railway  carriage.  He  showed  us  through  his 
great  house,  seating  us  at  last  in  his  large  li- 
brary. He  had  all  sorts  of  books — mostly  En- 
glish— and  prominent  among  them  was  the 
Holy  Bible.  I  finally  succeeded  in  getting  the 
conversation  directed  to  religion.  He  told  me 
of  the  excellence  of  the  moral  principles  of  the 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS.  51 

religion  of  Zoroaster.  These,  he  said,  were 
briefly  summarized  and  stated:  "Pure  thoughts, 
pure  words,  and  good  deeds."  When  I  asked 
him  how  we  sinful  creatures  were  to  meet  these 
high  requirements,  he  had  little  to  say.  I  at- 
tempted to  impress  upon  him  that  this  was  one 
point,  at  least,  where  the  religion  of  Jesus  is  su- 
perior to  every  other.  Though  its  spiritual 
requirements  are  the  very  highest,  yet  it  affords 
us  the  needed  help  to  attain  them.  He  had, 
very  likely,  had  the  same  thing  said  to  him 
many  times,  and  it  did  not  seem  to  strike  him 
with  any  particular  force.  He  was  the  head- 
man of  his  religion  for  a  great  district;  he  de- 
rived his  sumptuous  support  from  its  revenues; 
and  naturally  enough  he  would  be  very  slow  to 
recognize  the  superiority  of  what,  to  him,  seems 
like  conquering  robbery.  At  last  he  said,  half- 
mournfully:  "In  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
there  will  be  no  Parsees.  Our  people  are  rapidly 
becoming  Europeans.  Already  they  have  adopted 
your  dress,  your  education,  and  many  of  your 
customs  and  ways  of  thinking.  The  revenues 
of  our  temples  are  declining,  our  people  are 
weakening  in  their  devotion  to  their  ancient  re- 
ligion, and  soon  they  will  become  Christians." 
One  could  hardly  fail  to  be  touched  with  sym- 
pathy for  this  brother's  feelings;  and  yet  it 
would  be  unchristian  not  to  pray,  in  the  in- 


52  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

terests  of  these  very  people,  "God  speed  the 
day!" 

These  Parsees  are  a  remnant  of  the  ancient 
Persians.  Their  religion  is  so  ancient  that  its 
founder  was  a  mythical  personage  before  Chris- 
tianity was  born.  There  are  perhaps  but  about 
a  hundred  thousand  of  these  people  in  India,  of 
which  fifty  thousand  are  in  Bombay.  They  are 
a  very  thrifty,  and  hence  a  very  wealthy,  com- 
munity, and  are  often  called  "the  Yankees  of 
India."  Their  ancestors  came  to  India  centu- 
ries ago,  on  being  expelled  by  the  Mohammedan 
conquerors  of  their  own  land.  They  are  very 
intelligent,  speak  English  fluently,  and  are  usu- 
ally courteous  and  helpful  to  strangers.  They 
have  some  of  the  filthiest  of  religious  practices — 
such,  for  instance,  as  drinking  cow's  urine  while 
warm.  They  expose  their  dead  to  the  vultures 
on  the  Tower  of  Silence,  below  which  is  a  large 
and  deep  well,  to  which  the  bones  are  con- 
signed after  being  stripped  of  their  flesh.  At 
Bombay  this  Tower  of  Silence  is  situated  on 
Malabar  Hill,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  beautiful 
garden, 

"Where  every  prospect  pleases, 
And  only  man  is  vile." 

But  on  the  streets  and  tram-cars,  and  in  the 
marts,  the  Parsee  appears  as  the  neatest  in  per- 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS.  53 

son,  the  richest  in  dress,  and  the  most  courteous 
and  business-like  in  manner 'of  any  of  the  native 
people. 

Our  Conference  was  presided  over  by  the 
saintly  George  Bowen,  for  forty  years  a  mission- 
ary in  India,  mostly  in  Bombay.  Brother  Bowen 
was  the  least  self-assertive,  the  lowliest  .and 
meekest  soul  I  ever  met.  He  said  very  little ; 
but  I,  at  least,  was  charmed  in  his  presence.  I 
knew  nothing  of  him  before  going  to  India. 
Brother  Frease  took  me  to  call  on  him  in  Bom- 
bay. I  greeted  him  as  "  Father  Bowen;"  for  he 
looked  like  a  patriarch,  if  any  man  ever  did. 
He  quietly  and  emphatically  corrected  me. 
"  Not  Father,  but  Brother  Bowen,"  he  said.  He 
turned  the  conversation  at  once;  but  I  should 
never  have  dared  to  call  him  father  again.  He 
began  inquiring  for  our  health,  and  prescribed 
for  our  headache.  The  second  Sunday  we  were 
in  Bombay,  I  was  to  preach  in  our  Grant  Road 
Church.  Dinner  was  late  where  we  were  stop- 
ping, and  I  was  five  minutes  late  in  getting  to 
the  church.  During  the  next  week,  Brother 
Bowen  came  to  the  hospital  to  hold  a  Bible-class 
with  the  servants.  As  soon  as  he  saw  me,  he 
said  in  the  quietest,  kindest  tone,  "  You  were 
late  Sunday  night."  I  had  not  thought  of  it 
before,  except  to  shift  the  blame ;  but  I  now  felt 
stung  to  the  very  heart.  I  began  to  say,  "  The 


54  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

servants  were  late  with  dinner,"  when,  in  the  gen- 
tlest and  yet  most  authoritative  voice,  he  said: 
"  You  are  in  the  King's  business ;  you  must  never 
be  late!"  This  word  had  such  power  that  I 
have  never  been  late  since ;  and  I  never  think 
of  being  late  that  they  do  not  ring  in  my  ears. 
Again,  when  we  were  boarding  the  train  to  go 
to  Poonah — there  were  a  number  of  the  mission- 
aries and  their  families,  and  the  separate  apart- 
ments for  Europeans  are  limited — and  every  one 
was  scrambling  to  get  in,  this  lame  and  weak  and 
aged  saint  called  to  me  that,  if  I  would  hand 
him  his  carpet-bag,  he  would  find  room  else- 
where. I  do  not  believe  there  was  a  missionary 
who  noticed  it  that  did  not  blush  for  his  own 
selfishness.  For  my  own  part,  I  never  see  self- 
ishness manifested  on  the  cars  that  I  do  not 
think  of  Brother  Bowen ;  and  it  is  my  study  to 
act  less  like  a  dog  in  a  manger,  to  say  the  least, 
than  if  I  had  not  learned  of  him.  He  presided 
in  this  Conference  when  he  was  so  feeble  he 
could  hardly  sit  up  or  speak  audibly  to  those 
distant  from  him ;  and  yet,  by  the  power  of  his 
presence,  the  brethren,  though  the  conflict  of 
interest  and  opinion  was  sharp,  were  kept  within 
the  bounds  of  good  order.  But  a  few  days  after 
this  Conference,  this  man  of  God — sainted  in 
the  estimation  of  both  heathen  and  Christian — 
breathed  out  his  life  upon  the  wings  of  a  beau- 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS.  55 

tiful  tropical  morning,  and  entered  into  rest. 
He  lived  wonderfully  near  the  gospel  standard 
of  carelessness  for  the  things  of  this  world, 
and  of  devotion  to  seeking  first  the  kingdom 
of  God.  Many  are  the  stories  of  his  practicing 
the  letter,  as  well  as  the  spirit,  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  Once  a  native  man  was  running 
away  with  his  coat,  when  he  called  to  him  to 
let  him  take  some  valuable  papers — valueless  to 
the  thief — from  the  pocket,  before  he  took  the 
coat  away.  He  did  not  demand  the  coat,  nor 
even  censure  the  man  for  taking  it ;  and  the 
thief  was  so  astonished  and  shamed  that  he 
brought  it  back.  At  another  time,  he  enter- 
tained the  Bombay  Missionary  Conference.  This 
body,  since  Bombay  is  a  city  of  near  a  million 
people,  and  the  headquarters  of  many  mission 
agencies,  is  a  dignified  company  of,  perhaps, 
two  hundred  missionaries  from  most  denomi- 
nations and  Protestant  lands.  Their  custom  was 
to  have  their  session  about  eight  o'clock,  and 
take  breakfast  afterward  with  the  missionaries 
who  entertained  them.  The  spread  on  such  an 
occasion  would  be  apt  to  be  rather  elaborate 
anywhere  in  Christendom.  But  Brother  Bowen 
furnished  the  Conference  with  merely  bread 
and  bananas — his  own  accustomed  breakfast, 
only  on  a  larger  scale.  But  when  he  went  to 
eat  with  another,  he  had  no  criticism  to  offer  on 


56  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

the  home  arrangements  or  the  food,  but  ate 
without  remark  what  was  set  before  him.  He 
is  said  to  have  frequently  remarked  that  he  did 
not  know  of  one  soul  who  had  been  led  to 
Christ  through  his  agency;  but  missionaries, 
and  many  others  of  all  classes  of  society,  bear  a 
different  testimony  to  the  results  of  his  life's 
labor.  He  furnishes  a  striking  example  of  the 
truth  of  Spurgeon's  statement:  "The  most  pow- 
erful influence  on  earth,  aside  from  the  Spirit  of 
God  himself,  is  the  serene  and  quiet  beauty  of  a 
holy  life." 

When  the  appointments  were  announced,  we 
found  our  work  was  the  pastorate  of  the  English 
Church  in  Madras.  I  had  talked  with  Dr. 
Rudisill — who  had  been  pastor  there  for  three 
years,  and  was  presiding  elder  of  the  Madras 
District — and  was  perfectly  willing  to  go  with  him 
to  the  work  assigned.  As  soon  as  I  saw  him, 
my  soul  knit  to  him,  and  all  misgivings  were  of 
the  past.  The  prospect  of  getting  to  work  in 
a  field  of  our  own  also  relieved  the  pressure;  and 
altogether,  we  were  glad  we  were  in  India  by  the 
close  of  the  Conference.  The  Madras  mission- 
aries traveled  in  a  party,  taking  the  train  about 
nine  o'clock  in  the  evening.  We  were  thirty- 
four  hours  on  the  way — reaching  Madras,  with- 
out change  of  cars,  on  the  morning  of  the  second 
day.  Dr.  A.  W.  Rudisill,  Rev.  A.  H.  Baker,  and 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS.  57 

Miss  Grace  Stephens,  of  Madras;  and  Miss  M.  A. 
Hughes — daughter  of  the  editor  of  the  Guide  to 
Holiness,  of  New  York,  and  the  first  missionary 
sent  by  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety to  the  Madras  District — and  ourselves,  con- 
stituted the  party.  The  trip  across  India  was  full 
of  surprises  to  us.  It  was  made  in  comparative 
comfort.  We  missionaries  had  a  compartment  to 
ourselves  the  most  of  the  time,  and  we  used  it  re- 
ligiously and  joyfully.  I  realized  afterward  that 
I  was  under  kindly  and  hopeful  inspection  by  my 
presiding  elder  and  Brother  B.  as  to  theology,  pe- 
culiarities, and  disposition ;  but  it  was  so  indirect 
that  I  did  not  notice  it.  A  person  with  a  bad  dis- 
position, and  hard  to  get  on  with,  is  more  of  a 
nuisance  than  anything  else  in  a  mission-field. 
Ill-nature  is  more  harmful  there  than  elsewhere, 
and  there  is  considerable  suspense  until  the  new 
missionary  is  found  to  be  agreeable.  And  it  not 
infrequently  happens  that  a  tolerably  decent 
disposition  here  at  home  becomes  utterly  un- 
bearable in  missionary  life.  We  reached  Madras 
about  seven  A.  M.,  were  met  at  the  station  by 
Mrs.  Rudisill,  our  presiding  elder's  wife,  and 
were  soon  seated  at  breakfast  with  the  whole 
party  in  the  parsonage  where  we  were  to  live. 


Chapter  IV. 

AT  WORK. 

MADRAS  is  a.  city  of  four  hundred  thousand 
people.  It  has  a  purely  European  popu- 
lation of  about  four  thousand,  and  a  Eurasian — 
that  is,  mixed  European  and  Asiatic — population 
of  probably  fourteen  thousand.  This  latter  com- 
munity speaks  the  English  language,  and  their 
habits  of  life  are  as  nearly  like  those  of  the 
English  as  their  income  and  education  make 
possible.  They  are  all  nominally  Christians; 
and,  considering  that  most  of  them  are  brought 
up  closely  associated  with  the  heathen  peoples 
about  them,  and  where  the  most  of  the  Chris- 
tianity they  see  is  either  of  the  Romish  or  the 
ritualistic  sort,  they  make  a  fairly  successful 
showing  religiously.  We  all  know  how  difficult 
it  was  for  God  to  keep  the  Hebrew  people  from 
falling  into  the  ways  of  the  heathen  about  them ; 
and  one  can  hardly  overestimate  the  power  of 
surrounding  heathenism  to  tempt  and  ensnare 
lustful  humanity.  If  it  were  possible  for  the 
heathenism  of  India  or  China  to  transplant  its 
worship  and  its  abominations  in  the  midst  of 
58 


AT  WORK.  59 

American  society,  it  would  not  require  two  gen- 
erations to  pass  till  a  majority  of  the  people 
would  be  corrupted  to  a  greater  or  less  degree. 
But  these  Eurasians,  with  the  sprinkling  of  full- 
blood  English  Christians  who  mingle  and  wor- 
ship with  them,  are  becoming  more  and  more 
a  recognized  and  powerful  factor  for  the  evan- 
gelization of  India.  Bishop  Win.  Taylor's 
coming,  with  a  foresight  which  seems  almost 
prophetic,  and  his  four  years'  campaign  of  re- 
vival-work among  the  East  Indians,  was  the 
beginning  of  a  new  religious  era  for  them. 
Bishop  Taylor's  theory  was,  that  the  heathen 
could  never  be  converted  with  a  dead,  formal 
Church  of  merely  nominal  Christians  in  the 
way.  His  thought  was  to  thoroughly  arouse 
this  existing  body  of  English  and  Eurasian 
Christians,  that  they  might  exhibit  the  triumphs 
and  joys  of  salvation,  and  be  enlisted  under  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  evangelize  their 
own  land,  and  thus  a  mighty  hindering  force 
would  be  turned  into  an  indigenous  missionary 
force.  His  theory  has  proven  correct,  but  its 
reduction  to  practice  has  gone  on  slower  than 
he  probably  anticipated ;  and  this  because  it  is 
difficult  to  find  enough  men  of  the  zeal  and 
physical  endurance  necessary  to  thoroughly  evan- 
gelize the  Christian  body.  Yet  a  great  work 


60  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

in  this  direction  has  been  going  on  ever  since 
his  day  there,  and  many  of  our  very  best  mis- 
sionary workers  are  from  this  class. 

Our  Church  consisted  almost  entirely  of  Eu- 
rasians. They  paid  us  one  hundred  and  fifty 
rupees — about  fifty  Collars — a  month ;  own  their 
own  church  and  parsonage;  and  paid,  during 
our  pastorate,  twenty-five  dollars  a  month  for 
native  work. 

We  soon  found  our  work  was  going  to  tax  us 
to  the  utmost.  Besides  our  large  church  in 
Vepery,  we  had  two  small  mission-chapels,  in 
one  of  which  I  preached  once  a  week,  and  oc- 
casionally in  the  other.  Each  had  a  Eurasian 
Sunday-school.  Then  we  soon  opened  three 
day-schools  and  four  Sunday-schools  among  the 
natives,  conducted  by  native  teachers  under  my 
supervision.  Besides  this,  there  was  our  Pub- 
lishing-house in  Madras,  which  was  working 
then  in  three  languages,  and  employing  from 
thirty  to  forty  men,  including  the  book-binding 
department.  This  was  an  almost  entirely  self- 
supporting  institution,  doing  job-work  for  banks 
and  colleges  and  missions,  and  requiring  to  be 
so  run  as  to  give  a  profit  with  which  to  turn 
out  Sunday-school  and  other  mission  literature. 
One  oan  imagine  some  of  the  difficulties  met, 
and  annoying,  time-consuming  details,  in  suit- 
ing the  exact  Englishman,  with  careless,  inexact 


AT  WORK.  6 1 

printers,  and  without  experience  himself.  But 
shortly  -after  we  reached  Madras,  Dr.  Rudisill 
had  to  go  to  Bangalore,  to  take  charge  of  the 
work  there;  and,  besides  all  my  preaching  and 
other  work,  I  had  to  take  charge  of  this  press. 
I  found  I  had  never  known  what  it  was  to 
work.  Withal,  I  tried  to  study  Tamil,  and  pro- 
gressed so  far  as  to  be  able  to  read  and  write  a 
little;  and  studied  up  on  the  Conference-course 
studies,  as  in  America.  This  overloading  could 
not  be  helped,  as  there  was  no  one  to  share  the 
work  with  me.  I  worked  so  hard  and  con- 
stantly that  I  contracted  dyspepsia,  and  could 
hardly  digest  milk  and  toast  the  last  months  we 
were  in  Madras.  I  was  green,  as  is  almost  every 
new  recruit,  and  doubt  not  that  I  expended 
much  energy  unnecessarily. 

My  good  wife  soon  found  her  hands  more 
than  full.  The  Church  may  be  made  to  furnish 
to  these  Eurasian  people  religious  life,  social 
life,  literary  life.  Mrs.  Isham  held  a  social  at 
the  parsonage  once  every  month  or  two.  She 
organized  an  Oxford  League — the  forerunner  of 
the  Epworth — the  first  one  in  India.  Through 
it  she  led  the  young  people  in  their  devotional 
life,  and  to  engage  in  various  literary  exercises. 
The  League  is  still  a  strong  and  useful  society 
in  the  Vepery  Church.  And  then  came  her 
missionary  society  for  the  ladies,  and  her  cate- 


62  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

chism-class  for  the  children,  and  the  care  of  the 
home,  and  the  study  of  the  language,  and  the 
thousand  nameless  details  of  social  and  relig- 
ious visiting  and  ministering  to  the  sick;  all 
this,  and,  if  she  could  get  any  time,  she  would 
help  me  read  proof  for  the  Press,  and  post  the 
mission-books,  and  pay  and  instruct  the  teachers 
of  our  native  schools,  and  the  like.  I  give  these 
details  that  my  readers  may  know  that  their 
missionaries  are  the  fullest  of  care  and  the  hard- 
est of  workers. 

And  right  here  I  may  write  of  the  dangers 
that  confront  the  new  missionary:  First,  he  will 
break  himself  down  with  overwork;  second,  he 
will  not  protect  himself  sufficiently  against  the 
dangers  of  the  climate;  and,  third,  he  will  un- 
dertake so  much  work  that  he  has  neither  the 
money  nor  the  strength  to  do  it  well.  Really, 
for  the  first  two  years,  if  not  for  five,  where  his 
work  lies  among  the  heathen,  his  principal  ef- 
fort is  spent  on  himself,  and  not  on  the  heathen. 
He  must  learn  the  language,  the  etiquette,  and 
many  other  things  about  the  people,  and  get 
himself  as  well  seasoned  as  possible  to  stand 
the  climate.  He  will  be  in  danger  of  becoming 
too  serious  and  intense.  He  must  never  forget 
that  joy  is  his  strength;  and  the  heavier  his 
burdens,  and  the  more  desolate  his  surround- 
ings, the  more  joyful  he  needs  to  be.  He  needs 


AT  WORK.  63 

to  learn  well  how  to  keep  his  heart  a  fountain 
of  joy. 

The  returned  missionary  is  so  often  asked, 
"Did  you  like  it  over  in  India?"  And  one 
must  say  in  sum  total,  "Yes,"  and  very  decid- 
edly, too.  In  what  does  this  liking  consist? 
In  the  fascination  of  the  work;  because,  often, 
of  its  foundation  character;  and  because  it, 
needs  so  much  to  be  done,  and  there  is  no  one 
else  but  the  missionary  to  do  it.  There  is  no 
sense  sweeter  to  the  soul  than  that  of  being 
useful  to  Jesus  in  ministering  for  him  to  those 
he  died  to  save.  At  home  here,  the  returned 
missionary  so  often  feels  that,  if  the  earth 
should  swallow  up  his  church-building  and  him- 
self some  night,  humanity  could  get  on  about  as 
well.  It  might  create  a  little  flurry  for  a  time 
with  a  few;  but  the  other  Churches  could  easily 
and  gladly  take  care  of  the  flock  ;  and  none  need 
go  to  eternity  without  gospel  light. 

As  the  season  advanced,  the  heat  became 
very  trying.  Almost  every  one  breaks  out  with 
heat-rash,  which  is  extremely  nettling;  and 
when  one  is  annoyed  with  all  he  can  bear  in  his 
work,  he  is  apt  to  become  petulant.  There  is  a 
general  exodus  of  the  Engish  from  the  plains 
to  the  hills  at  this  season;  and  all  who  can 
take  a  short  respite  from  the  period  of  extremest 
heat — which,  in  Southern  India,  is  from  May 


64  Two  YEARS  iff  INDIA. 

1 5th  to  June  i5th — do  so.  We  went  this  first 
year,  for  a  short  time,  to  Bangalore,  in  the  hills 
on  the  eastern  side  of  the  interior  elevation,  about 
two  hundred  miles  west  of  Madras.  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Rudisill,  Brother  Baker  and  family,  and  W.  L. 
King  and  family,  were  in  charge  of  the  various 
branches  of  the  work  there  at  the  time.  Mrs. 
Rudisill  came  down  with  typhoid  fever,  and  for 
forty-seven  days  her  life  hung  in  the  balance. 
She  had  lived  three  years  in  Madras,  and  it  is 
likely  that  the  change  to  the  colder  climate  of 
the  hills  brought  on  the  fever.  The  missionaries 
of  all  denominations  in  Madras  and  vicinity 
joined  in  praying  for  her  recovery,  and  those 
who  know  the  case  and  circumstances  have  no 
doubt  but  that  God  raised  her  up  in  answer  to 
these  prayers. 


Chapter  V. 

A  LETTER  FROM  THE  FIELD. 

I   WISH  to  let  the  reader  have  a  view  of  life 
in   India,  and  I  can  do  no  better  than  give 
the  contents  of  a  circular  letter  written  during 
our  first  year. 

"Many  things  are  different  from  our  fancies 
before  we  came.  There  are  many  more  of  the 
facilities  and  comforts  of  civilization  than  we 
had  supposed.  We  have  daily  papers,  with  tele- 
graphic news  from  Europe  and  America,  rail- 
ways which  make  travel  cheap  and  fairly  com- 
fortable, and  an  excellent  mail  and  postal 
telegraph  system.  The  postman  comes  to  our 
hoiise  twice  a  day.  Foreign  mail  comes  regu- 
larly once  a  week.  There  are  so  many  English 
people  that,  except  for  one's  work  and  servants, 
he  need  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  natives. 
There  are  excellent  English  stores,  where  we 
can  buy  almost  anything  we  could  in  European 
markets.  American  canned  meats,  and  fruits 
fresh  from  California,  and  crackers  in  air-tight 
tins  from  London  and  New  York,  as  fresh  as 
when  they  came  from  the  baker's  oven,  can  be 
had  quite  reasonably.  Labor  is  so  cheap  that 

5  65 


66  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

clothing  can  be  had  much  cheaper  than  in  either 
America  or  England.  The  gents'  tailors  and 
fitters  are  Mohammedans.  They  do  very  well, 
if  one  refuses  to  pay  them  till  he  is  satisfied. 
A  suit  that  would  cost  $40  in  America  can  be 
gotten  for  $20  or  $25  in  India,  but  not  so  well 
made. 

"Americans  who  have  not  taken  the  pains  to 
inform  themselves  are  apt  to  think  of  India  as 
covered  with  dense  forests  and  luxurious  vege- 
tation, abounding  in  elephants  and  tigers  and 
big  snakes,  and  peopled  with  naked  natives  who 
never  saw  a  white  man.  So  it  is  quite  a  sur- 
prise to  one  full  of  such  fancies  to  find  a  coun- 
try the  most  of  which,  during  most  of  the  year, 
looks  like  a  desert,  to  rarely  hear  of  a  wild  ani- 
mal larger  or  more  fierce  than  the  yelping  jackal, 
or  of  reptiles  much  larger  than  the  American 
blacksnake.  It  is  true  that  the  deadly  cobra  is 
very  numerous,  and  it  is  said  that  fifty  thousand 
natives  die  from  his  bite  in  a  single  year  in  the 
province  of  Bengal  alone.  But  this  worst  of 
serpents  is  a  timid  creature,  and  I  never  heard 
of  a  European  or  an  American  being  bitten  by 
one.  The  missionaries  sometimes  have  very 
harrowing  experiences  with  them,  because  they 
so  frequently  come  into  the  houses,  and  hang 
themselves  upon  door-knobs,  nails,  clothes- 
racks,  and  stretch  out  on  window-sills,  and  so 


A  LETTER  FROM  THE  FIELD.  67 

on ;  but  it  usually  happens  that  both  the  snake 
and  the  missionary  escape  unharmed;  for  their 
fear  is  mutual.  We  never  saw  but  one  cobra, 
except  those  carried  about  by  the  jugglers ;  and 
it  crawled  into  my  study  in  the  middle  of  a 
very  hot  day,  evidently  in  quest  of  a  cool  place. 
Mrs.  Isham  was  resting  a  short  time  on  a  lounge 
beside  my  study-table.  She  lay  still  while  it 
crawled  past  her  twice.  I  sat  writing  at  my 
table.  She  whispered,  'There  is  a  snake.'  I 
looked  up,  and  in  a  low  tone  said,  '  It 's  a  cobra, 
too.'  It  heard  my  voice,  and  turned  back  upon 
itself  quickly,  and  was  gone  before  we  could 
trace  it.  I  called  some  men  over  from  the 
Press.  They  dug  up  the  brick  and  cement  door- 
step, and  killed  it  with  a  crowbar  before  it  could 
disentangle  itself. 

"The  Englishman  dominates  everything  in 
India.  It  matters  not  what  his  character  is,  or 
his  real  merit — he  is,  in  appearance  at  least, 
held  in  high  respect  by  the  natives.  They  will 
rarely  sit  in  his  presence,  and  call  him  master, 
or  sahib,  which  means  gentleman.  There  is  a 
larger  number  of  English  in  India  than  is  gen- 
erally supposed  in  America.  They  are,  for  the 
most  part,  employed  in  Government,  military, 
and  civil  service.  Their  incomes  are  large,  and 
they  live  in  elaborate  style,  as  a  rule. 

"All  India  now — June  5th — is  parched,  and 


68  Tn'O  YEARS  IN 

as  barren  as  a  desert.  Green  spots  occur  only 
by  thorough  irrigation,  and  the  water  must  be 
drawn  from  wells  for  this  purpose.  In  large 
cities,  like  Bombay  and  Madras,  the  Govern- 
ment provides  a  plentiful  supply  of  water  by 
collecting  it  in  artificial  reservoirs,  and  conduct- 
ing it  often  many  miles.  But  in  most  of  the 
towns  the  water  is  carried  from  large  pools  on 
the  heads  of  Coolies,  or  drawn  by  an  ox  in,  a 
barrel-cart,  or  carried  in  large  leather  sacks  on 
the  backs  of  oxen.  A  sack  of  this  kind  is  made 
of  the  whole  hide  of  a  goat  or  calf.  Water  is 
precious  now,  and  vile,  in  most  parts  of  this 
burning  land.  Its  two  hundred  and  eighty  mill- 
ions of  people,  with  all  their  fields  and  flocks 
and  herds,  require  a  vast«  quantity  of  water. 
Here,  at  Madras,  we  are  thirteen  degrees  from 
the  equator,  and  six  feet  below  the  level  of  the 
sea.  The  sun  stands  a  little  to  the  north  of  us 
at  noon,  and  will  do  so  for  two  months  to  come. 
We  shall  be  under  the  almost  direct  rays  of  the 
sun  for  six  months  of  the  year.  The  most  care- 
ful precautions  must  be  taken  now  against  sun- 
stroke. Our  hats  are  one  and  a  half  inches 
thick,  and  we  carry  double  umbrellas,  covered 
with  white.  But  it  is  said  to  be  the  healthiest 
season  of  the  year. 

"We    are    furnished   with    a   good    English 
brougham.     Our  horse  is  one  of  my  own  choos- 


A  LETTER  FROM  THE  FIELD,  69 

ing — a  flea-bitten-gray  Persian  mare,  the  tough- 
est and  best  of  horses  to  be  had  in  India.  If 
she  is  driven  ten  miles  one  day,  she  must  rest 
all  the  next.  Horses  are  not  taken  out  in  the 
middle  of  the  day  unless  absolutely  necessary, 
and  then  they  are  often  provided  with  solar 
lopes — that  is,  a  shade,  made  of  pith,  for  the 
head,  neck,  and  loins.  The  average  time  of 
usefulness  for  horses  is  three  or  four  years. 
After  that  their  wind  is  gone.  If  the  climate 
has  such  an  effect  on  horses,  one  can  see  why  it 
is  such  a  trial  to  the  health  of  Americans  to  live 
here. 

"And  how  do  we  keep  cool t  in  the  house? 
We  do  just  the  reverse  of  what  we  should  do  in 
America.  There  we  should  open  the  windows 
and  doors;  but  here  we  shut  up  everything,  at 
eight  or  nine  in  the  morning,  except  two  or 
three  windows  and  a  door  on  the  side  of  the 
house  from  which  the  wind  comes.  Over  these 
we  hang  cus-cus  tatties — that  is,  a  curtain  woven 
like  a  rag-carpet,  only  more  loosely.  The  woof 
is  of  fine  yellow  roots ;  the  warp  is  of  strong 
hemp  cord.  These  are  wet  every  half-hour  or 
so;  and  as  the  wind  blows  through  them  it  is 
cooled,  dampened,  and  perfumed  by  the  odor  of 
the  roots,  which  is  quite  pleasant.  The  feeling 
on  going  from  the  outside  into  a  room  so  cooled, 
is  not  unlike  that  on  going  into  a  cellar,  on  a 


70  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA, 

hot  summer  day,  in  America.  But,  with  the 
temperature  so  reduced,  it  is  often  necessary  to 
keep  a  thick  blotting-paper  under  the  handr  to 
protect  the  paper  from  perspiration  stains,  while 
writing. 

"  Besides  this,  a  punkah  is  kept  swinging  over- 
head to  keep  the  air  in  motion.  A  punkah  con- 
sists of  a  heavy  board,  about  six  inches  wide, 
and  from  six  to  twelve  feet  long.  This  is  sus- 
pended from  the  ceiling  by  neatly  covered  ropes. 
On  both  sides  of  the  lower  edge  of  this  plank 
is  suspended  a  heavy  plaited  frill  of  cloth, 
about  eighteen  inches  wide.  This  frill  is  made 
of  coarse  stiff  cloth,  covered  and  lined  with 
linen,  and  otherwise  ornamented,  so  that,  when 
properly  made,  they  relieve  the  barn-like  ap- 
pearance of  the  necessarily  large  and  high 
rooms,  and  when  properly  swung  create  a  good 
breeze. 

"In  America  it  is  expensive  to  keep  warm; 
but  here,  to  keep  cool.  Six  months  in  the  year 
these  punkahs  must  be  swung  while  we  sleep, 
and  while  we  work  in  the  study.  We  employ 
two  men  to  pull  them  at  night,  and  a  boy  for 
the  day.  We  pay  each  of  these  pullers  a  dollar 
a  month.  It  may  be  surprising  to  some  that 
this  is  their  entire  income,  and  they  board 
themselves.  The  men  very  likely  support 
others,  and  their  entire  income  will  be  not  more 


A  LETTER  FROM  THE  FIELD.  71 

than  four  cents  a  day.  They  sit  gust  outside 
the  house,  and  swing  the  punkah  by  a  rope, 
which  passes  through  a  hole  in  the  wall  and 
over  a  pulley. 

"  This  brings  us  easily  to  speak  of  the  servants 
it  is  necessary  to  keep,  in  order  to  live  and  work 
in  India.  We  sometimes  hear  from  globe-trot- 
ting tourists  a  sight  of  criticism  on  the  fact  that 
missionaries  support  so  large  an  establishment. 
It  does  seem  strange  to  you  in  America  that 
we,  for  instance,  keep  thirteen  servants;  but 
the  strangeness  comes  from  one's  utter  ina- 
bility to  take  in  the  situation  without  the  ex- 
perience of  keeping  a  house  in  India.  In  the 
first  place,  it  is  the  law  of  the  Missionary  So- 
ciety that  the  missionary  and  his  wife  shall  give 
their  whole  time  and  strength  to  missionary 
work.  And  this  is  a  very  wise  rule ;  for  it  does 
not  pay  to  send  cultured  American  women  over 
here  to  do  housework,  when  women  can  be 
gotten  here  for  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  month  to 
do  it.  We  Americans  are  almost  foolishly  com- 
mitted to  the  thinking  that  a  woman  who  does 
no  housework  does  nothing.  This  notion  is 
peculiar  to  Americans,  and  inspires  us  with  an 
unreasoning  contempt  for  housekeeping  by  the 
servant  system.  We  should  remember  that  it 
is  waste  of  labor  and  money  to  put  skilled  and 
expensive  workmen  at  cheap  and  common  em- 


72  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

ployments.     Let  every  one  work,  and  let  him 
work  at  the  highest  work  he  can  do  well. 

"Then,  it  would  cost  almost  any  American 
woman  her  life  to  attempt  to  cook  and  do  house- 
work here ;  and  she  could  not  do  it  so  well  with 
the  rude  appliances  as  do  the  natives  to  the 
manner  born.  It  is  necessary  for  us  to  have 
many  servants,  because  the  iron  laws  of  caste 
prevent  one  servant  from  doing  more  than  one 
sort  of  work.  The  cook  who  does  the  market- 
ing must  not  carry  the  basket  nor  fetch  the 
water.  The  ayah  who  cares  for  the  children 
must  not  sweep  the  floor.  The  man  who  cares 
for  the  horse  must  not  care  for  the  yard  and 
water  the  plants.  So  it  is  necessary  for  us  to 
keep  the  thirteen  here  in  Madras,  to  get  along 
and  be  free  to  work  for  the  Church.  No  one 
feels  worse  about  this  than  the  missionaries,  for 
it  is  a  great  annoyance  to  manage  all  these  serv- 
ants and  to  keep  them  from  cheating  us  out  of 
everything.  The  cost  of  keeping  them  is  not  as 
much  as  of  keeping  one  good  girl  in  America. 
We  pay  the  whole  number  less  than  fourteen 
dollars  a  month,  and  they  board  themselves.  We 
pay  this  out  of  our  own  salary  of  fifty  dollars  a 
month  less  than  the  average  preacher  in  America 
gets,  and  give  our  own  entire  time  and  strength  to 
the  Church.  And  then  these  poor  people  would 
come  to  want  if  some  one  did  not  employ  them. 


A  LETTER  FROM  THE  FIELD.  73 

This  is  their  only  means  of  keeping  soul  and 
body  together.  They  come  and  beg  us  to  em- 
ploy them,  and  attempt  to  bow  down  and  kiss 
one's  foot  in  token  of  their  servant  spirit;  and 
one  would  feel  condemned  to  rob  the  Church  of 
his  time  and  the  starving  of  his  bread  to  save  a 
dollar  a  month.  New  missionaries  are  some- 
times disposed  to  head  a  revolution  on  this  line ; 
but  they  succumb  with  increase  of  experience. 
The  missionaries  who  have  been  long  in  the 
field  may  be  trusted  both  as  to  devotion  and 
wisdom,  for  it  takes  a  good  deal  of  both  to  keep 
one  at  his  post. 

"Of  course  it  is  a  great  event  when  a  mission- 
ary is  privileged  to  entertain  an  American  trav- 
eler; and  there  is  often  more  or  less  of  a  spread 
made  from 'the  slim  purse  for  the  household  ex- 
penses, which  must  be  paid  for  by  reducing  the 
expenses  for  some  days  to  come.  And  the  weary 
worker  is  apt  to  lay  off,  and  show  his  guest 
about  the  place  in  the  mission  conveyance.  Of 
course,, when  he  has  gone  to  all  this  trouble, 
he  appreciates  the  gratitude  shown  by  his  guest 
in  thoroughly  misrepresenting  him  where  it  will 
do  him  and  his  cause  the  most  harm. 

"One  is  surprised  that  the  missionary  so  little 
minds  the  things  he  imagined  would  be  so  hor- 
rible to  him.  There  are  little  lizafds  everywhere 
on  the  walls  and  ceilings.  They  make  one 


74  Two   YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

squeamish  at  first;  and  I  know  one  lady  mission- 
ary who  says  she  put  in  her  first  night  throwing 
her  shoes  at  the  creatures  she  saw  running  about 
the  walls  of  her  room.  But  one  soon  learns  that 
these  innocent  little  creatures  are  good  friends, 
and  not  half  so  pestersome  as  the  flies  and  other 
insects  they  destroy  would  be.  Occasionally  a 
scorpion  is  found  about  the  house;  but  it  rarely 
happens  that  one  gets  stung  by  one;  and,  if  he 
does,  it  is  usually  because  he  forgets  that  he  is 
in  a  land  where  such  things  abound,  and  so  be- 
comes careless.  Bandicoots  twice  the  size  of  a 
rat,  blind  mice,  and  stinking  little  muskrats, 
run  about  the  floors  freely  at  night;  and  some- 
times cats  will  break  out  into  a  wild  scream 
under  one's  bed  at  midnight.  These  things  af- 
ford amusement,  and  break  the  monotony  of  life ; 
and  one  survives,  and  works  away." 


Chapter  Vl. 
AN   IMPORTANT  EVENT. 

THE  subject  above  refers  to  the  conversion  of 
Raju  Naidu,  which  took  place  during  the 
fall  of  our  first  year  in  Madras.  I  do  not  wish 
to  claim  him  as  in  any  way  the  fruit  of  my 
labors;  but  as  I  frequently  talked  with  him 
during  the  weeks  which  preceded  his  baptism, 
and  had  a  part  in  all  the  experiences  which  fol- 
lowed it,  I  may  be  able  to  so  account  for  it  that 
my  readers  will  see  more  clearly  than  they  do 
now  what  it  means  for  a  man  of  caste  and  po- 
sition in  the  Hindoo  community  to  become 
openly  a  Christian. 

Raju  Naidu  belonged  to  one  of  the  leading 
high-caste  families  in  Madras.  The  family  es- 
tate was  large,  and  some  of  his  near  relatives 
were  high  in  professional  and  official  standing. 
He  himself  had  a  good  position  on  the  staff  of 
a  Hindu  semi-weekly  paper  printed  in  English. 
He  was  fairly  well  educated,  speaking  three 
languages;  one  of  which  was  English,  which  he 
used  fluently.  He  was  married,  and,  after  the 
custom  of  India,  lived  with  his  mother  and 
brothers  and  sisters,  his  father  being  dead.  This 

75 


76  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

placed  his  wife  and  his  property  more  under  the 
control  of  his  family  than  of  himself.  Property 
is  held  by  the  family,  and  not  by  the  individual, 
as  in  this  country;  and,  in  everything,  the  fam- 
ily rules,  and  individuality  of  thought  and 
action  is  suppressed.  A  man  may  be  well  off  in 
the  family,  but,  if  he  goes  forth  from  it,  be  ut- 
terly penniless.  And  by  the  education  of  the 
girls  from  their  infancy,  no  high-caste  woman  can 
exercise  the  moral  courage  to  go  out,  even  with 
her  husband,  where  other  men  will  see  her ;  and 
her  caste  will  be  broken  in  baptism  and  com- 
muning with  Christians;  for  she  is  taught  that 
such  sins  might  cost  the  life  of  her  husband,  and 
ruin  her  entire  family. 

So  for  Raju  to  become  a  Christian  required 
that  he  should  absolutely  forsake  houses  and 
lands  and  mother  and  brethren  and  wife  and 
position,  and  escape  for  his  eternal  life  from  all 
these  entanglements. 

Raju  had  gone  to  a  mission-school  when  a 
boy,  and  there  received  his  first  impressions 
about  Christianity.  He  had  been  more  or  less 
in  touch  with  missionaries  and  Christian  teach- 
ing all  along  the  years.  Two  or  three  years 
before,  he  had  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Dr. 
Rudisill;  and  Miss  Grace  Stephens,  the  zenana 
missionary  of  our  Church  in  Madras,  had  been 
teaching  some  of  the  women  in  his  home,  and 


AN  IMPORTANT  EVENT.  77 

he  had  often  talked  with  her,  and  heard  her 
lessons  to  the  others.  All  these  influences  were 
laying  the  foundation  of  his  convictions,  and 
unconsciously  he  was  steadily  moving  toward 
conversion  to  Christ. 

A  municipal  election  was  held  in  June,  and 
some  friend  or  relative  of  Raju's  was  running 
for  commissioner — or  alderman,  as  we  say  in 
America.  Raju  and  a  friend  came  in  a  carriage 
to  take  me  to  vote.  Raju  returned  with  me 
alone,  and  conversed  quite  freely  concerning  his 
religious  views  and  convictions.  At  first,  he 
said,  he  was  a  zealous  Hindu.  Then,  as  his 
education  advanced,  he  lost  all  faith  in  idolatry, 
and  became  an  Atheist.  As  time  wore  on,  he 
saw  that  a  universe  of  law  and  providence  re- 
quires an  intelligent  designer,  who  rules  in  its 
affairs,  and  so  became  a  Deist.  "And  now," 
said  he,  "  I  see  that  men  are  helpless  in  sin,  and 
must  have  a  Savior;  I  believe  Jesus  Christ  is 
that  Savior,  but  it  costs  so  much  to  fully  accept 
him."  It  is  a  common  thing  for  the  missionary 
to  hear  heathen  gentlemen  speak  patronizingly 
of  Christianity;  and,  for  all  this  brother  talked 
more  to  the  point  than  they  do  generally,  I 
doubted  whether  he  meant  more  than  to  make 
himself  agreeable  to  me.  I  encouraged  him  all 
I  could,  showing  him  that,  though  the  cost  was 
great,  the  promised  return  was  a  hundred-fold 


78  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

in  this  life,  and  eternal  life  in  that  which  is  to 
come.  "The  kingdom  of  God  comes  not  with 
observation;"  and  no  one  can  tell,  in  the  mis- 
sion-fields or  at  home,  whether  a  seeker  is  in 
earnest  or  not.  But  the  true  soul-winner  must 
encourage  and  help  every  one ;  sow  among  the 
stones,  by  the  wayside,  and  among  thorns,  as 
well  as  in  what  seems  to  be  the  fruitful  field; 
for  we  preach  the  gospel  to  win  souls,  and  also 
as  a  witness.  Three  or  four  months  later,  Raju 
visited  me,  and  as  I  talked  with  him  I  realized 
that  he  was  passing  through  a  life-and-death 
soul-struggle.  Shortly  afterward  Dr.  Rudisill 
told  us  he  was  to  be  baptized  in  two  or  three 
weeks.  During  these  weeks  Raju  visited  me 
often ;  and  I  have  never  witnessed  a  more  heroic 
fight  of  faith  than  that  he  waged  against  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil.  His  face  grew 
thin,  his  cheeks  hollow,  and  his  eyes  sunken. 
He  could  not  eat;  he  could  not  sleep.  Once, 
with  crying  and  tears,  he  said :  "  I  love  my  wife 
and  mother  very  dearly;  how  can  I  separate 
from  them?"  And  then,  after  a  moment  of 
quiet,  he  said:  "But  I  have  a  soul  to  save,  and 
what  shall  it  profit  me  if  I  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  it?  My  wife  will  be  a  widow 
but  the  few  years  of  this  life;  but  if  I  lose  my 
soul,  it  is  lost  forever.  I  must  leave  all  for 
Christ!" 


AN  IMPORTANT  EVENT.  79 

We  arranged  all  the  preliminaries  for  his 
baptism.  The  missionaries  and  native  Chris- 
tians were  invited.  It  was  to  take  place  in  our 
Vepery  church.  About  noon  of  the  day  ap- 
pointed, Raju  came  into  my  study  by  the  side- 
door,  with  two  changes  of  clothes  under  his 
arm,  and  a  little  money  in  his  purse  — everything 
else  of  this  world  being  left  behind.  He  had 
to  escape  secretly,  explaining  to  his  folks  that 
he  was  going  on  a  little  visit.  We  talked  and 
prayed  together;  Dr.  Rudisill  and  the  other 
missionaries  came  in;  a  little  lunch  was  served, 
and  Raju  ate  with  us,  thereby  breaking  his 
caste;  then  we  removed  his  long  hair — called 
kudimi — which  is  religiously  regarded  in  South 
India,  and  is  one  of  the  marks  of  the  Hindu 
faith;  then  we  went  to  the  church,  and  Raju 
was  baptized.  Immediately  he  took  the  train, 
with  Dr.  Rudisill,  for  Gulbarga,  one  of  our  mis- 
sion-stations in  the  Deccan,  two  hundred  miles 
from  Madras,  where  Brother  J.  H.  Garden  was 
then  stationed. 

His  relatives  followed  him,  and  we  found 
that  Brother  Garden  was  not  going  to  be  able 
to  keep  them  from  taking  him  away.  So  we 
determined  to  bring  him  back  to  Madras,  and 
have  the  struggle  through.  Dr.  Rudisill  went 
after  him ;  and  T  had  handbills  printed  in  three 
languages,  and  scattered  all  over  the  city — es- 


8o  Tico  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

pecially  in  his  home  neighborhood — stating  that 
Raju  Naidu,  recently  baptized  to  Christianity, 
would  speak  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Vepery,  on  Sunday  morning  at  ten  o'clock.  The 
distributers  of  these  notices  were  roughly  han- 
dled in  some  instances,  and  would  have  been 
mobbed  but  for  the  police. 

It  was  the  plan  of  Raju's  friends  to  meet 
him  at  the  station,  and  never  let  him  get  to  the 
church.  They  were  there  in  great  numbers;* 
but  we  had  anticipated  such  a  move,  and  I  sent 
the  Church-carriage  to  Perambore — a  suburban 
station — so  that  Dr.  Rudisill  and  Raju  arrived 
safely  at  the  parsonage  about  the  time  his 
friends  were  disappointed  at  the  Central  Sta- 
tion. The  time  for  service  arrived,  and  for  once 
we  had  a  large  native  congregation.  The  church 
was  packed,  and  the  people  were  orderly.  Dr. 
Rudisill  preached  through  an  interpreter;  some 
Tamil  lyrics  were  sung  by  the  native  Christians; 
then  Raju  stood  up,  within  a  week  of  his  bap- 
tism, to  explain  to  his  friends  and  relatives  the 
reasons  which  impelled  him  to  take  the  step. 
He  spoke  quite  confidently,  and  they  listened 
attentively;  but  as  soon  as  the  service  was 
ended,  they  broke  straight  for  Raju.  I  was  ex- 
pecting this,  and  hurried  him  over  to  the  par- 
sonage. In  a  minute  nearly  'the  whole  crowd 
of  natives,  some  of  them  boisterous  and  angry, 


AN  IMPORTANT  EVENT.  81 

were  rushing  through  our  house.  Dr.  Rudisill, 
the  zenana  missionaries,  and  a  few  of  the  mem- 
bers of  our  English  Church,  were  with  us;  and 
for  more  than  an  hour  we  baffled  this  crowd,  and 
finally  they  departed,  leaving  Raju  with  us. 

Then  we  ate  a  lunch,  and  lay  down  to  rest  a 
little.  In  the  afternoon,  Raju's  wife  and  mother 
came  and  prostrated  themselves  on  our  veranda, 
and  wailed  in  token  of  their  bereavement  and 
desolation.  Raju  wisely  refused  to  see  them. 
They  begged  that  they  might  merely  see  his 
face.  They  would  stay  on  the  outside  and  look 
through  the  glass  door,  they  promised;  but  Raju 
would  not  even  grant  this.  In  this  he  set  an 
example  for  all  young  converts;  viz.,  that  of 
avoiding  temptation.  The  Hindus  have  a  super- 
stition that  they  get  power  over  a  person  by 
looking  upon  his  face.  Raju  knew  that  one  of 
his  battles  would  be  with  superstition,  and  care- 
fully avoided  everything  that  might  strengthen 
this  enemy. 

For  two  months  Raju's  friends  tried  in  many 
ways  to  get  him  in  their  power ;  but  he  success- 
fully avoided  them  until  they  gave  him  up. 
Had  they  gotten  him  away  from  us,  we  should 
probably  never  have  seen  him  again  ;  but  by  our 
protecting  and  helping  him  awhile,  he  was  ena- 
bled to  overcome  their  opposition,  and  live  and 
preach  and  write  for  Christ  among  them.  He 

6 


82  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

devoted  himself  to  lecturing  and  writing  inde« 
pendent  of  missionary  support.  Recently  he  is 
on  the  editorial  staff  of  the  Eastern  Star,  and 
will,  if  he  lives,  exert  a  powerful  influence  as  a 
Christian  layman  for  Christ  and  civilization 
through  the  years  to  come. 

One  can  not  estimate  the  far-reaching  re- 
sults of  such  a  missionary  victory.  It  means 
far  more  than  a  revival  with  five  hundred  con- 
verts does  in  a  Christian  land.  It  sets  agoing 
lines  of  influence  which  will  affect  thousands 
for  Christ,  and  will  go  on  increasing  and  bless- 
ing generations  who  will  never  hear  of  the 
missionary  whose  faith  and  toil  gave  God  a 
means  of  revealing  himself  to  the  lost. 


Chapter  VII. 

MOVING  FORWARD. 

OCTOBER  1 5th  was  looked  forward  to,  in 
our  home  at  least,  with  longing  expecta- 
tion. It  is  the  day  appointed  by  the  Govern- 
ment for  the  breaking  of  the  eastern  monsoon. 
We  had  been  ten  months  in  Madras,  and  had 
seen  no  rain  to  speak  of.  We  had  endured  the 
long  half-year  of  extreme  hot  weather,  culmi- 
nating in  the  sultry  heat  and  heavy  air-  of  Sep- 
tember and  early  October.  At  this  time,  the 
atmosphere  seems  to  weigh  tons,  and  makes 
one's  shoulders  tired  to  move  about,  and  his 
chest  tired  in  supporting  respiration.  It  is  like 
the  still,  sultry  air  which  precedes  the  breaking 
of  a  summer  thunderstorm  here  in  America, 
lengthened  out  through  two  months.  And  it  is 
with  great  joy  that  we  greet  the  ides  of  October; 
for  the  British  Government  has  fixed  that  date 
for  the  rains  to  begin.  The  seas  about  are 
swept  by  terrific  storms,  and  navigation  is  dis- 
couraged by  the  Government  as  far  as  it  has  any 
influence.  The  flags  are  taken  down  from  the 
harbor-staff;  the  made  harbors,  like  the  one  at 
Madras,  are  pronounced  unsafe ;  and  generally 

83 


84  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

the  off  season  has  set  in.  The  Government 
prognosticates  with  precision.  We  had  very 
grave  doubts  about  the  rain  setting  in;  for 
Americans  are  schooled  to  be  skeptics  on  this 
line  by  the  uncertainty  and  fickleness  of  all  the 
weather  they  have  known.  But  at  six  o'clock 
sharp  on  the  morning  of  October  I5th  the  rain 
began  to  fall  in  torrents.  There  was  not  the 
usual  preliminary  of  a  sprin&t,  or  scatttering 
drops;  it  was  just  what  it  is  called — "the  burst 
of  the  monsoon."  It  poured  down,  too,  for 
three  days,  with  but  little  cessation.  Everything 
was  flooded.  The  surface  of  the  earth  became 
a  waste  of  waters.  But  as  soon  as  the  rain 
ceased,  the  water  subsided,  the  earth  was 
dressed  in  green,  and  all  nature  was  trans- 
formed. It  is  almost  startling  to  see  how 
quickly  the  surrounding  country  changes  from 
a  burning  desert  to  the  luxurious  dress  of  trop- 
ical vegetation. 

We  were .  so  hungry  for  the  rain  and  the 
refreshing  sea-air  that  we  did  little  the  first 
day  but  watch  the  water  pour  down,  and  enjoy 
the  refreshing.  The  rain  cools  the  air,  washes 
everything  clean ;  and,  with  its  coining,  every- 
thing and  everybody  awake  to  a  new  life. 
About  two  weeks  after  this  first  downpour,  the 
second  of  the  three  big  rains  came.  It  was  a 
terrific  storm — a  veritable  cyclone.  The  streets 


MOVING  FORWARD.  85 

were  filled  with  broken  trees,  blown  up  and  torn 
to  pieces ;  wall  fences  were  blown  down  every- 
where; many  native  huts  and  some  large  En- 
glish houses  fell  in ;  and  roofs  of  public  build- 
ings were  blown  off.  The  sea  was  as  wild  and 
grand  a  spectacle  as  one  could  wish  to  behold. 
Fortunately  no  ships  were  in  the  harbor  and 
none  near  the  coast,  or  they  would  have  been 
dashed  to  pieces.  One  fall  there  were  five 
splendid  ships  wrecked  at  Madras  in  a  similar 
storm.  One  was  lifted  ashore,  and  left  there. 
All  the  passengers  and  sailors,  except  those  who 
were  saved  by  the  throwing  of  the  life-line 
from  the  pier,  were  lost.  All  Madras  was 
flooded.  The  water  was  said  to  be  four  feet 
deep  in  some  of  the  leading  streets.  Business 
was  suspended.  Many  could  not  get  to  their 
offices  or  work;  and  many  who  did,  could  not 
get  home.  After  this  there  was  another  three 
days'  rainfall;  and  in  these  three  storms  the 
bulk  of  the  annual  rainfall — about  fifty-three 
inches — descended.  From  this  time  on  till  the 
next  April  life  in  Madras  is  quite  pleasant  as 
far  as  climate  is  concerned.  Our  work  increased 
as  the  -year  drew  to  a  close ;  but  we  were  well, 
and  enjoyed  it.  In  January  a  little  stranger, 
whom  we  call  Robert,  came  to  us ;  and  a  week 
later  the  father  of  this  new  arrival  posted  off  to 
Bombay  to  Conference. 


86  Tiro  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

The  trip  required  forty  hours,  and  though  it 
was  in  the  dead  of  winter,  I  found  it  necessary 
during  the  day  to  wrap  a  moistened  towel  about 
my  head  to  prevent  headache  from  the  sun  as 
we  crossed  the  Deccan.  When  we  awoke,  the 
second  morning,  we  were  at  Lanowli,  at  the 
summit  of  the  Western  Ghats.  We  made  the 
descent  as  the  morning  sun  was  crowning 
the  peaks  with  gold,  and  then  flooding  the 
valleys  with  beauty.  A  more  restful  and  refresh- 
ing experience  I  have  never  had.  After  the 
long,  hot  year  of  hard  work  in  flat  and  sickly 
Madras,  what  a  change  it  was  to  awake,  one 
bright  morning,  in  mountain  air  and  amid 
mountain  scenery,  on  the  way  to  meet  the 
brethren  in  Conference,  and  enjoy  the  strength- 
ening and  rest  of  a  week  of  fellowship!  Still 
there  was  a  thought  of  regret  through  it  all, 
and  that  was  of  my  sick  wife  in  Madras ;  cared 
for  truly  with  skill  and  tenderness,  but  by 
strangers.  She  could  not  share  in  all '  this 
change  and  rest.  And  so  it  ever  is — the  weight 
of  monotony,  suffering,  and  sacrifice,  rests  heav- 
iest on  woman. 

This  was  Bishop  Thoburn's  first  year  as 
bishop,  and  he  was  everywhere  received  by  mis- 
sionaries and  people  with  great  joy.  He  pre- 
sided over  the  Conference.  Bishop  Fowler  was 
present — coming  by  way  of  Japan,  Corea,  and 


MO  VING  FOR  WARD.  8  7 

China — and  lectured  and  took  part  in  the  plat- 
form and  other  meetings.  This  will  ever  be  a 
memorable  Conference  to  me,  for  here  I  was 
ordained  under  the  missionary  rule — taking  dea- 
con's and  elder's  orders  the  same  day. 

The  Conference  over,  we  returned  to  our 
fields  of.  labor,  strengthened  and  with  new  zeal 
and  inspiration.  Bishop  Thoburn  visited  Ma- 
dras immediately  after  Conference.  We  had  a 
reception  for  him  at  our  home,  which  was  at- 
tended by  two  hundred  of  our  Eurasian  people. 
The  bishop  lectured  and  preached,  and  studied 
every  branch  of  the  work.  The  weelc  following 
we  all  went  to  Bangalore  with  Bishop  Thoburn, 
and  the  missionaries  and  their  helpers  from  the 
other  points,  to  organize  the  Madras  District 
Conference.  Here  the  bishop  worked  in  the 
Conference  in  the  daytime,  and  preached  to  the 
people  at  night.  One  who  has  not  seen  him  in 
the  field  would  hardly  believe,  if  told,  the 
amount  of  work  the  missionary  bishop  of  India 
accomplishes.  But  the  work  is  as  nothing, 
compared  to  the  burden  and  care  of  the  work. 

The  morning  after  we  arrived  in  Bangalore, 
a  telegram  was  forwarded  to  me  from  Madras. 
It  was  for  Bishop  Thoburn,  from  Calcutta,  and 
brought  the  overwhelming  intelligence  of  the 
sudden  death  of  the  Rev.  Frank  Latimer  McCoy, 
D.  D.,  one  of  the  most  promising  missionaries 


88  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

our  Church  ever  sent  to  India.  At  the  time  of 
his  death,  Dr.  McCoy  was  carrying  four  men's 
work.  He  was  manager  of  the  Publishing- 
house  in  Calcutta,  which  was  extremely  burden- 
some; for  it  was  in  debt  about  five  times  the 
value  of  its  plant.  He  was  principal  of  the 
Calcutta  Boys'  School,  a  self-supporting  board- 
ing-school. He  was  editor  of  the  Indian  Wit- 
ness^ the  sixteen-page  weekly  official  organ  of 
our  Church  in  India.  And  he  was  the  presiding 
elder  of  the  Calcutta  District.  Bishop  Thoburn 
fyad  a  strong  personal  attachment  to  Dr.  McCoy, 
as  he  has  to  all  the  missionaries  who  are  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  his  great  work ;  and  with  his 
sorrow  came  the  fact  that  four  very  important 
posts  in  the  capital  of  the  empire  were  made 
vacant,  and  there  was  no  one  but  himself,  with 
the  care  of  all  the  vast  work,  to  take  charge  of 
them  till  they  could  be  manned.  On  reading 
the  telegram  he  seemed  as  if  he  were  stunned 
by  a  heavy  blow ;  but  he  soon  took  up  the  work 
.of  the  day,  and  showed  no  signs  of  being  weighed 
down.  He  could  not  stay  with  us  through  the 
Conference,  but  hastened  away  to  Calcutta  to 
take  up  the  reins  that  Dr.  McCoy  had  laid  down 
forever.  Brother  F.  W.  Warne,  pastor  of  the 
large  English  Church,  had  been  so  overloaded 
with  work  during  Dr.  McCoy's  sickness  that  he 
was  taken  dangerously  ill,  and  had  to  go  for  a 


MOVING  FORWARD.  89 

change  to  the  hills.  Bishop  Thoburn  stepped 
into  both  these  places,  and  filled  them  for  a 
month,  until  Brother  Warne  came  back,  and  the 
other  work  was  put  in  good  hands;  then  he  con- 
tinued the  tour  of  his  great  field.  I  give  this 
to  let  the  reader  see  that  it  does  not  mean  lux- 
ury and  ease  and  privilege  to  be  a  missionary 
bishop ;  but  it  does  mean  a  weight  of  care  and 
responsibility  and  toil  that  few  have  either  the 
strength  or  the  grace  to  bear. 


Chapter  VIII. 

THE  SECOND  YEAR. 

OUR  second  year  was  full  of  toil  and  trial. 
About  the  last  of  April,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Rudi- 
sill  went  for  a  month's  change  to  the  hills.  We 
cared  for  the  Press  and  all  the  other  work  while 
they  were  away,  and  they  were  to  relieve  us 
when  they  returned,  and  give  us  a  month's 
change.  Mrs.  Rudisill  never  fully  recovered 
from  her  long  siege  of  fever  in  Bangalore  the 
previous  season,  and,  humanly  speaking,  ought 
to  have  come  home  before  another  hot  season 
set  in;  but  she  would  not  urge  it  herself,  and 
as  she  could  not  be  spared  without  loss  to  the 
work,  no  one  felt  like  urging  her  return.  It 
was  hoped  that  a  change  to  the  hills  would  help 
her  greatly.  Mrs.  Isham  had  suffered  more  or 
less  from  pain  in  her  eyes  and  the  back  of  her 
head  almost  from  the  first  of  our  experience  in 
India,  but  we  hoped  it  would  pass  away  as  she 
became  acclimated.  But  the  many  calls  on  her 
strength  from  the  work,  the  care,  and  the  cli- 
mate, only  aggravated  her  suffering;  and  as  the 
heat  increased,  she  grew  much  worse.  From 
90 


THE  SECOND  YEAR.  91 

this  time  on,  we  had  the  additional  anxiety  of 
her  declining  health. 

We  had  our  arrangements  made  to  leave 
Madras  for  Ootacamund,  the  summer  capital  of 
the  Madras  Presidency,  on  the  2Oth  of  May. 
This  was  a  very  trying  day.  The  thermometer 
registered  110°  in  the  shade,  and  the  wind  from 
the  interior  was  like  the  breath  of  a  furnace. 
About  one  o'clock,  Mrs.  Isham  was  looking 
through  a  small  opening  in  the  tatty,  when  a 
sharp  pain,  piercing  from  the  eye  to  the  back  of 
the  head,  sickened  and  prostrated  her.  There 
is  little  doubt  that  it  was  a  slight  sunstroke; 
and  from  that  time  sjie  grew  steadily  worse. 
We  managed,  however,  to  get  to  the  train  and 
start  for  the  hills.  Mrs.  Isham  said  afterward 
that,  as  we  were  leaving  Madras  that  evening, 
she  felt  that  she  should  not  live  to  return.  By 
the  next  day  at  ten  o'clock  we  reached  Metapa- 
liam,  where  we  left  the  railway  to  ascend  the 
mountains  by  touga.  Metapaliam  is  one  of  the 
hottest  places  on  this  earth.  It  is  just  at  the 
base  of  the  mountains,  where  the  sun's  maxi- 
mum power  is  unrelieved  by  either  breeze  or 
moisture.  It  is  a  common  expression,  that  it  is 
separated  from  the  burning  lake  by  but  a  sheet 
of  tissue-paper. 

However,  we  managed  to  survive;  and,  with 
such  light    baggage    as  we  were  permitted   to 


92  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

carry,  started  on  the  rapid  journey  of  thirty- 
two  miles,  and  an  ascent  of  over  six  thousand 
feet.  The  touga  in  which  we  made  this  journey 
is  a  two-wheeled  vehicle,  with  two  seats  backed 
together;  or,  rather,  having  a  two-faced  back 
between  them,  the  seats  being  low  down  between 
the  wheels  to  prevent  upsetting.  The  driver 
sat  facing  front ;  and  wife  and  I,  each  holding  a 
child,  faced  backward.  We  traveled  at  a  gal- 
lop, having  relays  of  horses  every  mile  and  a 
half  after  the  ascent  began,  and  reached  our 
destination  in  about  five  hours. 

The  first  three  miles  lay  along  the  level,  in 
the  burning  heat  of  the,  plains,  and  amid  the 
most  luxuriant  tropical  forest.  Here  we  saw 
the  American  cqnception  of  a  jungle.  The 
plain  near  the  base  of  the  mountains  is  well 
watered  by  mountain  rills  and  frequent  rains; 
and,  as  the  heat  is  extreme,  vegetation  is  rank 
and  varied.  It  is  only  at  the  base  of  moun- 
tains that  the  jungle  is  a  dense  forest.  Most 
of  what  is  called  jungle  in  India  is  open 
country,  and  as  barren  as  a  desert  most  qf 
the  year.  Oranges,  and  many  varieties  of 
plantains,  and  numerous  other  tropical  fruits, 
are  abundant  all  along  these  lower  hillsides, 
and  in  all  stages  of  development  from  the 
blossom  to  the  ripe  fruit.  There  can  be  no 
more  magnificent  scenery  than  that  along  this 


THE  SECOND  YEAR.  93 

ascent.  The  vast,  the  luxuriant,  and  the  deli- 
cately beautiful  so  combine  as  to  be 'captivating 
beyond  description.  As  we  ascend,  above  the 
belt  of  tropical  fruits  the  mountain-sides  are 
clothed  in  the  rich  green  of  the  tea  and  coffee 
plant.  Many  Englishmen  have  large  planta- 
tions for  these  products;  and,  higher  up,  there 
are  large  plantations  of  cinchona-trees. 

After  the  first  ten  miles  are  passed,  the  tem- 
perature is  so  much  lower  that  one  is  quite 
comfortable,  and  begins  to  feel  refreshed,  as 
now  and  again  a  cool  breeze  from  the  moun- 
tains comes  down  to  welcome  him.  Twenty 
miles  up  from  the  plains,  out  come  the  over- 
coats and  wraps ;  and  the  rest  of  the  way,  one 
chills  and  shivers  until  he  reaches  his  bungalow 
and  sits  down  by  a  fire.  We  needed  fire  all  the 
time  we  were  in  the  hills,  which  was  during  the 
warmest  season  of  the  year. 

Ootacamund  is  an  English  town  of  five  hun- 
dred houses.  It  is  one  of  the  most  delightful 
spots  on  earth  in  many  ways.  The  market  part 
of  the  town  is  situated  in  a  basin  of  the, hills; 
and  the  residences  are  villas,  scattered  every- 
where on  the  mountain-sides.  The  grounds 
about  the  homes  are  spacious;  the  flower-gar- 
dens are  rich  in  a  variety  of  plants  and  colors; 
the  hillsides  are  well  wooded  with  the  trans- 
planted blue-gum  tree  from  Australia.  All 


94  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

about  the  town  and  surrounding  country  are 
beautiful  and  well-kept  drives ;  and  all  that 
nature  and  art  can  do,  is  done  to  make  it  a  de- 
lightsome retreat.  To  one  side  of  the  town  is 
situated  the  governor's  mansion,  in  the  midst 
of  one  of  the  most  superb  parks  in  the  world. 
It  is  said  to  contain  a  specimen  of  every  tree 
that  will  live  at  that  altitude;  and  there  are 
flowers  of  numberless  varieties.  Whether  the 
statement  concerning  the  trees  be  true,  we  can 
not  know;  but  it  is  true  that  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  find  a  country  on  the  map  of  the  world 
whose  peculiar  forest  features  are  not  repre- 
sented. Once  or  twice  a  week  the  governor's 
band  gives  an  open-air  concert  in  the  midst  of 
this  garden;  and  every  one  who  can,  turns  out 
to  enjoy  it  Some  may  be  surprised  that  such 
things  are  to  be  found  in  India.  But  why  not  ? 
With  nature  favorable  in  every  way;  with 
starving  laborers  begging  to  be  employed  for  a 
song;  and  with  revenues  at  their  disposal,  and 
the  love  of  beauty  in  the  heart, — why  not 
have  parks,  and  music,  and  flowers?  At  any 
rate,  they  do  have  them.  There  is  not  a  Presi- 
dency-town in  India,  I  suppose,  that  has  not  its 
splendid  park,  or  Governor's  Gardens,  as  they 
are  sometimes  called;  and,  in  some  cases,  these 
contain  fine  collections  of  animals.  Tuesday  of 
each  week  is  Shauda,  or  market  day,  at  Ootaca- 


THE  SECOND  YEAR.  95 

mund;  and  it  would  be  hard  to  find  a  better 
market  anywhere.  It  affords  the  combined 
products  of  the  tropics  and  the  temperate 
zone  in  vegetables  and  fruits.  Better  beef  and 
mutton  can  not  be  found ;  and  the  food  manu- 
factures of  both  Asia  and  Europe  are  offered 
to  the  purchaser's  selection.  Taking  it  alto- 
gether, one  would  about  as  soon  spend  his  life 
at  Ootacamtind  as  anywhere  else  on  earth,  if 
only  he  could  have  his  own  .Government  and 
friends  to  live  with. 

We  spent  a  month  here,  and  were  much 
helped — at  least,  I  was.  I  put  in  the  time 
climbing  the  mountains  and  chopping  wood,  in 
order  to  recuperate  bodily  energy  to  resist  the 
enervation  of  life  in  the  plains.  An  amusing 
incident  occurred  after  we  returned  to  Madras, 
which  illustrates  how  closely  the  natives  follow 
the  pattern  set  for  them  in  everything  they  do. 
I  "run  down"  the  shoes  I  was  wearing,  climb- 
ing the  hills;  and  when  a  chuckler  came  to  take 
my  order  for  a  new  pair,  he  asked  me  for  an  old 
shoe  "for  size."  I  was  hurried  with  work,  and 
handed  him  one  of  my  mountain-climbers  with- 
out giving  the  matter  any  attention.  He  was 
longer  than  usual  in  returning  with  the  new 
shoes,  and  when  he  came,  to  my  astonishment, 
they  were  as  badly  run  down  as  the  old  ones. 
When  1  objected  to  them,  the  poor  man  com- 


96  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

plained:  "All  the  same,  like  master's  foot. 
Very  much  trouble  inakin*  poor  chuckler.  See, 
master!  so  much  stretch-work !"  and  he  pointed 
to  the  bulged  side  of  the  shoe  in  proof.  The 
joke  was  worth  the  price  of  the  shoes,  and  the 
poor  man  could  by  no  means  afford  to  lose  per- 
haps halt  his  entire  fortune;  so  he  got  his  pay 
in  full.  A  well-known  missionary  tells  of  hav- 
ing a  pair  of  pants  made,  and  when  the  tailor 
brought  them,  he  found,  on  trying  them  on, 
that  they  were  patched.  He  asked  the  tailor  to 
explain,  and  he  said,  "All  the  same,  like  mas- 
ter's pattern,"  and  showed  the  patch  on  the 
old  pair,  given  him  as  a  pattern,  as  his  justi- 
fication. They  are  so  in  the  habit  of  doing 
things  just  as  they  have  been  done  for  all  time, 
absolutely  according  to  pattern,  that  they  never 
stop  to  think  of  the  why  and  wherefore  of  any- 
thing. On  returning  to  Madras  we  found  it 
was  well  for  us  that  we  had  had  a  month's 
recreation;  for  the  burden  of  work  and  the 
nerve-strain  awaiting  us  were  all  we  could  sup- 
port as  it  was. 

Shortly  after  our  return,  our  presiding  elder's 
wife — Mrs.  M.  M.  Rudisill — was  taken  seriously 
ill,  and  her  physician  gave  us  little  encourage- 
ment to  hope  for  her  recovery.  We  all  knew 
so  well  what  she  had  suffered  before,  that  it  was 
lelt  by  all  the  missionaries  and  near  friends  that 


THE  SECOND  YEAR.  97 

she  was  going  home.  As  the  days  passed,  she 
grew  rapidly  worse.  All  Saturday  night  and 
Sunday,  the  6th  and  jth  of  July,  the  mission- 
aries and  near  friends  from  our  Vepery  Church 
watched  with  sorrowful  anticipation  at  Waverly, 
as  their  home  was  called.  Sabbath  evening  it 
became  evident  the  end  was  near.  With  songs 
and  prayers  and  tears  the  hours  passed.  There 
were  fifteen  Christian  friends  present  in  the 
sick-chamber.  The  servants,  some  of  whom  had 
been  converted  in  her  service,  were  weeping  in 
the  doorway.  The  light  was  turned  low;  all  was 
hushed  and  still;  the  breathing  became  slower 
and  slower;  a  smile  lit  up  the  kindly  face,  and 
some  one  whispered,  "She  is  gone;"  and,  as  if 
the  presence  was  too  sacred  for  human  speech, 
each  one  quietly  withdrew  without  breaking  the 
stillness. 

Funerals  must  follow  quickly  in  Madras.  So 
that  of  our  sainted  sister,  who  had  done  so 
much  of  kindness  and  of  cheer  for  each  of  us, 
was  arranged  for  Monday  afternoon.  My  pur- 
pose in  this  whole  account  is  to  show  how  the 
people  of  India  regard  the  faithful  missionary. 
At  the  hour  appointed  for  the  funeral  service 
the  church  was  packed,  and  the  yard  and  street 
about  it  were  crowded  with  people.  During 
the  services,  which  were  conducted  by  the  mis- 
sionaries of  other  denominations,  the  people 

7 


98  Tu'o  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

* 

wept  in  sobs  and  tears.  When  an  opportunity 
was  given  to  view  the  remains,  the  weeping 
crowd  held  the  casket  long  after  the  time  for 
moving  to  the  cemetery;  and  when  they  did 
move,  they  would  not  allow  the  remains  to  be 
placed  in  the  hearse ;  but  members  of  our  En- 
glish Church  took  up  the  casket  and  carried  it, 
the  three  English  Sunday-schools  and  the  mem- 
bers of  our  Churches  following  in  procession, 
and  singing  appropriate  hymns.  This  is  so  un- 
usual an  order,  so  spontaneous  and  indirect, 
that  it  shows  most  forcibly  how  the  people  for 
whom  she  had  laid  down  her  life  responded  in 
affectionate  appreciation. 

Mrs.  Rudisill  was  a  true  missionary,  and  had 
no  fears  to  die  in  India.  She  used  often  to  say, 
when  urged  to  seek  to  come  home:  "It  is  as 
near  heaven  from  India  as  from  America.  If 
the  Lord  wants  me  to  go  home,  it  will  some- 
how be  made  clear;  if  not,  I  can  stay  here." 
She  spent  her  life  ministering  to  others,  and 
seemed  to  have  acquired  the  power  to  forget 
herself  even  when  suffering.  Her  husband,  en- 
tirely broken  down  by  his  five  years'  toil  in 
Madras,  was  compelled  to  return  to  America 
shortly  afterward. 

During  the  first  five  or  six  weeks  after  re- 
turning from  the  hills  we  had  fifteen  funerals, 
from  a  Qhurch  of  two  hundred  members.  En- 


THE  SECOND  YEAR.  99 

teric  fever — a  malignant  type  of  ^typhoid — was 
epidemic,  and  we  could  do  nothing  but  minister 
to  the  sick  and  dying.  On  returning  from  the 
funeral  of  Mrs.  Rudisill,  having  had  no  sleep 
for  two  nights,  we  were  called  to  the  home  of 
an  Englishman  before  we  had  had  time  to  take 
a  lunch;  and  while  trying  to  help  him  to  shift, 
he  died  in  my  arms.  The  family  were  so  help- 
less I  had  to  take  charge  of  all  the  funeral  ar- 
rangements. A  day  or  two  later  I  was  at  the 
deathbed  of  a  widow,  who  lived  alone.  The 
natives  were  all  about,  ready  to  carry  off  any- 
thing they  could  steal.  The  woman  died  the 
eighth  day,  her  temperature  reaching  one  hun- 
dred and  eight  degrees  or  higher.  The  corpse 
turned  black  from  fever-poison  in  a  very  few 
minutes ;  and  yet  I  was  compelled  to  stay  in  the 
room,  and  make  an  inventory  of  her  personal 
effects,  and  seal  them  up,  taking  a  receipt  from 
the  owner  of  the  house — to  secure  the  heirs,  the 
landlord,  and  myself  from  injury,  until  we 
turned  them  over  to  the  police  authorities  the 
next  day.  I  was  in  'the  room  for  at  least  an 
hour,  and  suffered  in  no  way  from  it.  I  con- 
ducted sometimes  two  funerals  a  day,  and  gave 
all  my  time  to  the  sick  and  dying.  The  people 
used  often  to  send  for  me  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  and  I  always  went  gladly.  If  the  people 
would  treat  their  pastors  so  in  America,  they 


ioo  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA, 

would  get  more  good  from  them.  It  often  hap- 
pens that  when  sickness  is  in  the  family,  the 
pastor  would  be  glad  to  call ;  but  not  knowing 
it,  he  fails  to  do  so,  and  often  is  met  with  un- 
kindly complaint  afterward.  People  never  com- 
plain if  the  doctor  does  not  call  without  notice; 
but  they  expect  the  preacher,  with  perhaps 
many  times  the  constituency  of  the  doctor,  to 
know  all  about  their  ills.  It  is  a  good  rule  to 
send  for  the  doctor  and  notify  the  preacher  at 
the  same  time. 


Chapter  IX. 
THE  ENGLISH  WORK. 

DURING  the  two  years  in  Madras,  our  En- 
glish work  required  regularly  two  sermons 
each  Sunday  at  Vepery.  We  had  here  a  con- 
gregation in  the  evening  of  from  two  to  three 
hundred,  and  of  about  one  hundred  in  the 
morning.  The  evening  service  is  the  principal 
one  everywhere  in  India.  The  Vepery  congre- 
gation required  as  good  preaching  as  a  good 
Church  does  anywhere,  to  hold  the  people. 
Dr.  Rudisill,  who  had  been  for  years  a  presiding 
elder  in  the  Baltimore  Conference,  had  been 
my  predecessor  for  three  years;  and  educated 
Englishmen,  missionaries,  and  sometimes  mem- 
bers of  the  governor's  council,  were  present. 
While  these  persons  deserve  no  better  preach- 
ing than  any  others,  yet  their  presence  in  our 
churches  proves  that  they  enjoy  our  services 
better  than  those  of  the  Established  Churches, 
and  mightily  confirms  our  own  people  in  their 
respect  and  confidence  for  their  own  Church. 
Besides,  these  English  friends  often  give  us  the 
most  substantial  financial  aid  in  both  our  En- 
glish and  native  work,  and  their  friendship  is 


102  Two  YARS  IN  INDIA. 


in  every  way  helpful.  So  the  standard  of  ex- 
cellence in  our  English  Churches  in  India  must 
be  kept  high,  and  the  best  preachers  are  needed 
as  much  as  anywhere.  This  made  my  study 
work  very  exacting,  for  I  had  had  but  little  ex- 
perience as  a  pastor  before  taking  this  charge. 
On  Monday  nights  I  preached  regularly  at 
Otary,  a  suburban  village  of  railway  mechanics. 
Nearly  all  the  people  here  belonged  to  our 
Church,  and  owned  a  very  neat  chapel,  which 
served  as  a  school-house  during  the  week. 
Then  we  had  class  and  prayer  and  League  and 
other  social  or  literary  meetings  for  almost  every 
night  of  the  week. 

The  most  satisfactory  work  I  did,  though, 
was  the  pastoral  work.  The  difficulty  in  this 
work,  everywhere,  is  in  the  impossibility  of 
meeting  all  the  members  of  the  family  together. 
In  America  the  men  are  off  to  business,  office, 
or  work  early  in  the  morning,  and  the  children 
are  at  schcrol  all  day.  The  afternoon  is  the 
time  set  for  the  pastor  to  call,  and  his  meeting 
is  with  the  mother  and  infant  children.  He 
does  much  good  by  visiting  and  praying  in  the 
homes  even  under  these  limitations,  but  how 
much  more  good  he  could  accomplish  if  he 
could  occasionally  meet  the  whole  family  to- 
gether !  In  India,  the  man  of  the  house  seldom 
goes  to  his  office  before  eight,  and  usually  not 


THE  ENGLISH  WORK.  103 

before  nine  or  ten  o'clock.  vSo  I  devised  the 
plan  of  sending  a  printed  notice — with  date  and 
time  filled  in — the  day  before  I  called,  stating 
that  I  should  like  to  meet  the  entire  family  for 
worship.  If  it  was  not  convenient  for  them  to 
receive  me,  they  could  set  another  time.  I 
went  calling  both  morning  and  evening;  and 
many,  many  were  the  -precious  seasons  had  at 
the  family  altars  of  our  Church.  In  this  way 
the  pastor  can  encourage  family  worship.  I 
made  from  three  to  five  visits  each  morning 
and  evening,  and  so  got  through  a  great  deal  of 
this  work 'every  month.  I  never  got  so  near, 
nor  felt  that  I  was  in  a  position  to  be  so  prac- 
tically helpful,  to  the  people  of  any  other 
Church. 

We  held  several  special  revival  efforts',  as  our 
strength  would  permit.  We  had  some  conver- 
sions in  each.  The  largest  number  that  pro- 
fessed to  accept  Christ  at  any  one  time,  I  be- 
lieve, was  eleven.  The  Eurasians  are  not  moved 
by  these  special  efforts  as  we  often  are,  here  in 
America.  They  are  steadier — make  more  of 
their  religion  all  the  time,  and  less  of  spasmodic 
efforts;  so,  if  other  things  were  equal,  a  Church 
would  not  fluctuate  as  is  so  often  the  case  in 
America.  The  people  are  naturally  quiet,  affec- 
tionate, and  gentle,  and  not  easily  wrought  up 
to  the  pitch  of  excitement.  Evangelists  who 


104  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

have  been  wonderfully  successful  in  America, 
are  surprised  and  tried  at  the  seeming  utter 
failure  of  their  methods  among  this  class  of 
people  in  India.  There  are  lasting  results  from 
all  genuine  efforts,  but  conditions  and  natures 
in  America  and  in  India  are  widely  different. 

There  are  many  discouragements  in  this 
work,  as  well  as  in  all  other  religious  work. 
One  must  carry  on  evangelistic  Church-work  in 
the  face  of  a  constant  war  with  ritualism.  The 
Church  of  England  is  established,  having  the 
power  of  the  Government  behind  it,  and  a  big- 
oted clergy  paid  from  the  public  treasury  to 
man  it.  If  one  did  not  know,  he  could  hardly 
distinguish  these  Churches  from  the  Romish; 
and  there  is  no  practical  difference  to  the 
people,  except  it  be  that  this  English  Es- 
tablishment is  directly  less  oppressive  finan- 
cially, but  indirectly  more  so.  There  are  usu- 
ally two  chaplains  to  a  Church,  with  a  pay  of 
about  five  thousand  dollars  a  year  each.  Our 
Church  in  Vepery  is  but  one  block  from  a  very 
strong  and  very  "  High  "  Episcopal  Church,  and 
lives  only  by  squarely  joining  the  issues  and 
forces  of  evangelism  with  those  of  sacerdotal- 
ism and  worldly  advantage.  This  is  the  war 
our  Churches  are  every  Where  waging  in  India; 
and  the  American  pastor,  when  weary  and  seem- 
ingly defeated,  is  apt  to  feel  discouraged.  The 


THE  ENGLISH  WORK.   »  105 

ritualistic  Church  has  been  long  in  the  field; 
memories,  associations,  and  family  ties  bind  the 
people  to  it ;  and  loyalty  to  it  is  often  essential 
to  advancement  in  official  and  social  standing. 
All  these  things  are  against  our  cause ;  but  still 
we  advance. 

Our  Church  has  not  been  established  long 
enough  among  the  Eurasians  for  us  to  bring 
forth  a  generation  of  our  own  educating.  Our 
members  have  been  won  largely  from  ritualism, 
and  had  all  their  early  training  there.  Though 
they  are  as  loyal  to  Methodism  as  any  one  can 
be,  yet  they  are  strange  to  our  ways ;  and  many 
of  the  less  devoted  ones  show  such  a  lack  of 
moral  force !  They  come  to  Church  with  hymn- 
book  and  Bible ;  they  bow  and  say  a  prayer,  on 
taking  their  seat;  they  are  reverent  for  all  re- 
ligious exercises,  and  would  not  think  of  put- 
ting the  hat  on  in  Church  ;  and  one,  observing 
them,  would  think  they  are  most  devout  and 
conscientious, — but  they  are  not  nearly  so  care- 
ful about  their  moral  conduct,  nor  so  reverent 
concerning  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And 
one  learns  that  this  seeming  piety  is  the  remains 
of  their  religious  education  in  "  The  Church." 
Mrs.  Rudisill  remarked  to  us,  when  we  took 
charge  of  the  Madras  work,  as  a  bit  of  her  ex- 
perience :  "  Our  only  hope  of  building  up  a 
strong  Methodism  among  these  people  is  in  the 


106  Two.  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

thorough  training  of  the  young."  This  is  the 
wisdom  of  experience;  and  every  worker  in  the 
English  field  in  India  comes  to  realize  it.  So 
that  now,  as  many  who  were  formerly  children 
in  our  Eurasian  Sunday-schools  are  coming  to 
maturity,  it  is  gratifying  to  find  them  going 
forth  as  missionary  assistants  and  teachers,  or 
engaging  in  League  and  other  Church-work  at 
home.  We  are  in  the  beginnings  of  the  harvest 
from  this  English  work,  which  is  full  of  prom- 
ise to  the  Church  in  the  work  of  evangelizing 
India.  So  while  the  English  work,  viewed  from 
the  point  we  view  work  in  America,  may  seem 
discouraging,  yet  from  the  point  of  results  to 
India,  it  is  most  encouraging. 

Besides,  these  discouragements,  there  is  an 
annoying  show  of  opposition  to  the  foreign 
preacher  in  even  the  Methodist  Eurasian  pulpits. 
But  this,  one  finds  on  becoming  acquainted  with 
the  people,  consists  mostly  in  talk  indulged  in 
by  persons  having  but  little  influence  among 
their  own  people,  and  who  imagine  they  are 
crowded  into  obscurity  by  the  usurping  and 
even  inferior  foreigner.  As  a  rule,  the  Eurasian 
Methodists  would  much  rather  have  an  Ameri- 
can pastor,  and  one,  too,  fresh  from  America. 

It  is  my  experience  that  the  Eurasian  Meth- 
odists are  exceptionally  affectionate,  appreci- 
ative, and  kindly  attentive  to  their  pastor  and 


THE  ENGLISH  WORK.  107 

his  family.  One  rarely  receives  the  evidences 
of  regard  in  the  service  of  an  American  Church 
that  he  does  from  them.  They  are  liberal  to  a 
fault  in  supporting  their  own  Churches,  and  in 
giving  for  missions  and  all  charitable  purposes. 
Though  they  are  much  less  demonstrative  in 
times  of  revival,  and  when  deeply  moved  re- 
ligiously, than  many  Americans  are,  yet  one 
sees  clear  and  beautiful  conversions  and  con- 
vincing evidences  of  the  Spirit's  work.  Sum- 
ming it  all  up,  I  have  never  spent  two  such 
happy  years  as  the  two  of  hard  service  and 
seeming  sacrifice  in  the  work  in  Madras ;  and, 
if  it  may  ever  be,  I  shall  joyfully  return  to  that 
field.  Those  days  when  we  were  comforting 
the  sorrowing,  who  hung  upon  us  as  their  only 
stay,  and  cheering  the  sick,  who  anxiously 
longed  for  our  coming,  and  supporting  the  dying 
and  bereaved  with  song  and  promise  and  prayer, 
were  so  filled  with  the  precious  sense  of  spiritual 
usefulness  that  one  would  gladly  fill  with  them 
the  entire  span  of  his  years. 


Chapter  X. 
DIVERSIONS. 

I  WOULD  not  have  my  readers  suppose  that 
the  missionary  life  is  all  toil.  Of  course  there 
is  recreation  and  diversion.  Human  nature  de- 
mands it,  must  have  it,  and  all  parts  of  the 
world  afford  it.  Missionary  life  differs  little 
from  any  other  life,  except  that  it  is  a  larger 
life — a  life  of  greater  sacrifices,  and  greater 
services,  and  greater  experiences.  It  is  not 
without  superior  diversions.  In  Madras,  per- 
haps the  commonest  ^recreation  is  an  evening 
visit  to  the  beach.  Here  is  the  finest  surf  in 
the  world.  Extending  ten  miles  out  to  sea  from 
the  shore-line  is  a  submerged  plain,  over  which 
the  water  is  but  from  ten  to  twenty  feet  deep. 
Then  the  bottom  drops  to  ocean-depths.  When 
the  tide  is  rising,  or  when  the  sea  is  heavy  from 
storms,  the  great  waves  come  rolling  and  thun- 
dering and  dashing  into  spray  and  foam,  one 
behind  the  other,  until  sometimes  ten  plunging 
surges  are  chasing  each  other,  to  exhaust  them- 
selves upon  the  shore.  When  the  breeze  is 
from  the  sea,  it  is  cool  and  refreshing.  Along 
this  beach  was  formerly  a  waste  of  sand;  but 
108 


DiyERSIONS.  109 

the  English  have  made  walks  and  gravel-drives, 
and  hedges  of  the  casurena-tree — which  resem- 
bles our  cedar,  and  makes  a  rapid  growth  in 
sand — and  made  beds  of  crotons  and  other  flow- 
ering-shrubs, so  that  it  is  now  very  much  like  a 
park;  and  a  large  per  cent  of  English  women 
and  children,  and  many  native  gentlemen,  and 
a  few  Englishmen,  are  at  the  beach  from  five 
to  eight  o'clock  each  evening.  About  once  a 
week,  while  the  governor  is  in  Madras,  his 
band  plays;  his  excellency,  attended  by  his 
body-guard,  drives  about,  with  flourish  of  trum- 
pets and  a  great  spread ;  and  the  bulk  of  well- 
to-do  English  turn  out.  This,  of  course,  has 
little  attraction  for  an  American  after  the  nov- 
elty has  worn  oflf;  but  to  ride  through  the  Gov- 
ernor's Gardens,  and  among  the  Government 
buildings,  with  the  surf  thundering  within  hear- 
ing, and  an  Indian  moonlight  beautifying  all,  is 
to  feel  the  peculiar  charm  which  results  from 
the  union  of  the  arts  of  civilization  with  the 
indolent  magnificence  of  the  tropics.  Here  is 
the  spreading  mango-tree,  with  its  leaves  of 
polished  green — the  live-oak  of  India  in  size 
and  shape;  and  groves  of  palm-trees,  with  their 
tufts  of  plumes  bending  lazily  from  the  top; 
and  a  great  variety  of  other  trees,  of  all  shapes 
and  sizes,  but  all  alike  rich  in  foliage.  And 
here  are  crotons,  in  never-ending  variety  of 


no  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

shapes  and  colors;  many  flowers  of  beauty, — 
with  a  sky  of  India-blue  and  a  matchless  moon- 
light over  all.  Unite  with  this  the  work  of  the 
gardener  and  the  architect — arrange  the  flowers 
in  beds,  the  crotons  in  tasty  clumps  and  rows ; 
clean  away  all  the  underbrush  and  vines  from 
among  the  trees;  set  an  occasional  fountain 
playing  in  the  moonlight;  cross  and  recross  the 
grounds  with  well-kept  drives;  put  here  a  Sen- 
ate-house, with  four  immense  domes;  there,  a 
great  palace,  formerly  the  residence  of  a  nabob, 
but  now  the  Revenue  Building;  on  this  other 
side,  the  Madras  University,  with  its  beautiful 
surroundings;  just  behind  it,  the  fine  Pub- 
lic Works'  Building;  and  on  that  other  side, 
the  Governor's  Palace  and  Banqueting  Hall, 
with  walls  so  white  that  they  seem  built  of 
snow;  add  to  these  the  music  of  the  bursting 
waves, — and  to  ride  in  a  comfortable  carriage, 
driven  slowly  through  it  all,  affords  to  one  in 
need  of  rest  a  recreative  diversion  not  to  be 
despised.  Occasionally — two  or  three  times 
in  a  month — we  get  away  from  our  work,  and 
spend  an  evening  in  surroundings  such  as 
these. 

Then,  there  are  many  novel  and  strange  af- 
fairs, and  celebrations  of  a  religious  origin,  of  a 
more  or  less  public  nature,  which  are  interest- 
ing and  diverting  in  the  extreme,  especially  to 


DIVERSIONS.  1 1 1 

those  who  have  not  been  long  enough  in  the 
country  to  become  accustomed  to  them.  I  copy 
the  following  from  a  letter,  written  to  friends  at 
home  while  we  were  in  Madras,  as  an  instance 
in  point:  "Last  month  we  had  the  Moham- 
medan fast  and  feast,  called  the  Mahorum\  and, 
as  far  as  I  am  able  to  learn,  its  leading  facts  are 
about  as  follows:  It  is  held  every  eleventh  moon, 
and  lasts  ten  days.  The  event  celebrated  is  a 
quarrel  between  two  brothers — Oosaim  and  Ah- 
saim — sons  of  the  prophet.  One  of  them  was 
killed ;  and  the  other,  escaping,  became  a  home- 
less wanderer,  and  was  cared  for  by  a  tiger. 
Hence  it  is  sometimes  called  the  'Tiger  Festi- 
val.' When  this  boy  grew  up,  he  determined, 
in  memory  of  all  these  events,  to  hold  a  solemn 
fast  and  feast.  Originally  it  was  a  mourning 
celebration,  on  the  side  of  the  death  of  one  of 
the  brothers;  but  on  the  side  of  the  tiger's  hos- 
pitality, and  the  rescue  of  the  other  brother,  it 
was  a  joyous  feast;  and  to  this  day  the  ortho- 
dox and  informed  Mohammedans  meet  and 
snivel  and  wail  together,  with  seeming  depth  of 
feeling,  in  honor  of  this  event.  There  is  no 
meaning  in  it  calculated  to  produce  any  lasting 
effect  on  character.  It  is  a  mere  arbitrary  ob- 
servance, completed  in  ten  days,  and  then  dis- 
missed until  the  time  of  its  observance  recurs 
again." 


ii2  Tiro  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

>f     ' 

But  this  orthodox  observance  of  the  Ma- 
horum,  though  the  only  part  having  any  real 
significance,  is  of  no  interest  to  speak  of,  com- 
pared with  the  weird  spectacles  seen  in  the 
streets.  The  people  call  it  the  "Tiger  Fes- 
tival." It  is  a  time  when  every  disorderly  ele- 
ment throws  off  restraint;  and  during  the  ten 
days  of  the  celebration,  the  city  of  Madras  is  an 
ideal  pandemonium.  Although  the  Mahorum 
is  of  Mohammedan  origin  and  meaning,  yet  all 
classes  and  races  of  people  take  part  in  it. 
Like  everything  else  in  heathenism,  it  has  de- 
generated into  a  mere  opportunity  to  exercise 
the  spirit  and  the  enormities  of  meaningless 
idolatry.  To  the  reckless  it  is  a  time  of  dis- 
order; to  the  boorish  it  affords  a  chance  to  appear 
in  grotesque  garb,  and  act  the  fool ;  to  the  de- 
signing it  gives  an  opportunity,  and  to  the 
vicious  and  bestial  it  is  a  time  of  violence  and 
excess.  It  is  said  that  no  decent  native  woman 
is  safe  on  the  streets  at  such  a  time.  Each 
guild  of  Mohammedans  builds  what  is  called  a 
cage.  I  know  not  why  they  are  so  named;  for 
the  structures  resemble  miniature  mosques. 
They  are  similar  in  shape  and  material,  but 
different  in  combinations  of  color  and  richness 
of  decoration.  They  are  made  entirely  by 
hand — the  framework  of  light  sticks,  and  the 
covering  of  many-colored  paper  and  tinsels. 


DIVERSIONS.  113 

When  complete,  and  brilliantly  lighted  within, 
and  flashed  upon  by  torchlight  without,  the 
best  class  of  these  cages  are  dazzlingly  pretty. 
Each  cage  is,  I  judge,  twelve  feet  square, 
and  fourteen  feet  high — combining  the  square, 
the  dome,  and  the  minaret  of  the  mosque. 
During  the  ten  days  of  the  festival,  the  cages 
are  kept  on  exhibition  in  immense  booths,  and 
are  inspected  by  multitudes.  The  finest  cage  in 
Madras  is  that  built  by  the  governor's  Moham- 
medan guard;  and  the  crowds  visiting  its  booth 
are  so  great  at  times  that  many  fail  to  reach  the 
»scene. 

On  '  the  last  night  of  the  Mahorum,  these 
cages  are  carried  in  procession,  amid  a  wilder- 
ness of  torches,  to  one  of  the  large  pools 
of  the  city,  dipped  in  the  water,  the  paper  torn 
off,  and  the  frames  preserved  for  future  use; 
and  the  Mahorum  is  ended.  There  is  nothing 
so  bad  about  this  part  of  the  performances ;  but 
this  is  only  the  most  nearly  decent  part. 

During  the  ten  days,  night  and  day,  the 
whole  city  is  in  disorder.  The  men  of  each  oc- 
cupation select  a  fierce,  brutal  Mohammedan, 
put  a  false  scalp  on  his  head,  with  tiger-like  ears, 
dye  his  beard,  and  paint  his  entire  body  with 
spiral  stripes  of  black  and  yellow,  spotting  him 
with  other  colors.  They  then  drug  him  with 
belutg,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  make  the  man 

s 


ii4  TWO  VEARS  IN  INDIA. 

as  fierce  and  bloodthirsty  as  a  tiger.  Then 
they  make  him  the  center  of  an  immense  mob, 
keep  him  restrained,  irritate  him  in  every  way 
they  can;  and,  when  he  is  in  the  rage  of  an 
infuriated  beast,  they  open  a  space  before  him, 
let  loose  a  sheep  in  it,  which  he  clutches,  and 
bites  in  the  neck  till  he  cuts  a  blood-vessel,  and 
then  drinks  its  blood.  There  are  a  dozen  or 
more  such  processions  in  Madras  every  evening 
of  the  ^fahorum.  When  two  of  these  proces- 
sions meet,  and  the  tigers  come  face  to  face, 
they  fight  with  all  fury;  and,  unless  the  police 
prevent  it,  the  two  processions  join  in  a  hand- 
to-hand  battle.  Were  it  not  for  the  excellent 
police  regulations,  many  lives  would  be  lost, 
and  no  one  would  be  safe  on  the  streets. 

Besides  these  tiger-processions,  with  their 
crowding  throngs,  many  go  about  promiscu- 
ously in  hideous  false-faces,  with  blackened 
bodies  shining  like  polished  boots,  or  painted 
in  all  sorts  of  stripes  and  colors,  and  all  ac- 
companied by  the  indescribable  din  of  thump- 
ing drums,  screeching  horns,  and  weird  noises, 
until  one  feels  he  is  on  a  visit  to  Hades. 
There  are  other  processions  of  different  or  no 
significance — some,  at  the  head  of  which  gilded 
hands  are  carried  high  on  poles  (these  are 
called  "three-finger  gods");  others,  with  images 
or  banners,  followed  by  noisy  throngs,  who 


DIVERSIONS.  1 1 5 

scatter  everywhere  a  sacred  yellow  powder. 
Most  of  all  this  is  entirely  meaningless;  and 
this  is  the  difficulty  in  describing  any  of  these 
great  spectacular  celebrations.  There  is  so 
much  connected  with  them  that  has  neither  his- 
toric nor  religious  meaning!  It  is  done  be- 
cause it  gratifies  an  aimless  impulse.  And 
right  here  is  one  of  the  saddest  results  of 
heathenism — it  renders  so  much  of  one's  out- 
goings of  soul  and  energy  aimless,  meaningless, 
and  waste. 

The  Hindus  imitate  whatever  they  see 
the  Mohammedans  do.  They  paint  them- 
selves, paint  and  drug  their  children,  and  drag 
them  half-dead  through  the  streets.  Fathers 
carry  naked  children,  whipping  them  with 
stinging  switches  to  keep  them  screaming  in 
torment;  and  bands  of  painted  hoodlums  meet 
and  fight  with  clubs.  If  one  native  has.  a 
grudge  against  another,  he  takes  advantage  of 
this  time  to  get  even  with  him. 

We  drove  in  the  thick  and  center  of  one  of 
the  tiger-processions  for  some  hours  one  even- 
ing, with  a  party  of  ladies,  in  two  open  car- 
riages. Our  horses  were  often  frightened,  and 
many  times  we  seemed  in  danger ;  but  such 
was  the  crowd  about  us  that  there  was  no 
moving  except  with  it.  I  am  glad  we  could 
not  get  away;  for  it  was  an  evening  long  to  be 


ii6  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

remembered.  The  Mohammedans  were  very 
polite  to  us.  They  had  the  whole  party  com- 
pletely in  their  power;  but  they  showed  us 
every  kindness,  and  helped  us  control  the 
horses* when  they  became  unruly. 

This  is  only  one  of  many  festivals,  all  dif- 
fering in  character  and  significance,  which, 
if  one  cares  to  pay  attention  to  them,  are  full  of 
interest.  Then,  missionary  touring,  though  hard 
work,  is  restful  through  the  changes  and  camp- 
life  which  it  affords.  And  when  worn  out  or 
much  run  down  in  health,  a  short  voyage  at 
se£,  a  vacation  in  the  hills,  or  a  complete  change 
of  station,  breaks  up  the  steady  drag  of  life. 
Besides,  there  are  in  all  the  large  cities  organi- 
zations of  all  the  missionaries,  corresponding  to 
the  interdenominational  ministers'  associations 
here  at  home.  The  Madras  Missionary  Con- 
ference numbers  one  hundred  and  seventy  of  the 
most  cultured  and  experienced  missionary  super- 
intendents, teachers,  and  preachers,  from  all 
leading  Protestant  missions.  Their  monthly 
meetings  are  broadening  and  inspiring.  One 
feels  that  he  is  in  the  councils  of  the  world's 
best  training  and  thinking  when  in  them.  And 
so  the  missionary's  life  is  varied.  His  experi- 
ence compasses  the  worst  and  the  best — the 
greatest  trials  and  sorrows,  and  the  greatest 
comforts  and  consolations.  God's  proportion 


DlVERSfONS.  117 

runs  through  every  life  alike;  "for  as  the 
sufferings  of  Christ  abound  in  us,  so  our  con- 
solation also  aboundeth  by  Christ."  (2  Cor. 
i,  5.)  And  a  missionary's  life  differs  from  an- 
other's in  being  greater  in  many  ways 


Chapter  XI. 

CONQUERED  BY  BROKEN  HEALTH. 

FROM  the  first  of  this  second  year  the  drain 
of  the  work  and  the  climate  upon  our  ener- 
gies was  exhausting.  As  the  summer  wore  on, 
we  realized  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  us  to 
live  in  Madras  without  relief  from  the  pressure 
of  the  burden.  After  Mrs.  RudisilPs  death, 
Mrs.  Isham  had  taken  the  additional  work  of 
editing  Kfathar  Mithiri — the  Womatt's  Friend — 
the  monthly  Tamil  zenana  paper  published  for 
the  women  who  are  taught  to  read  by  the 
zenana  teachers  of  the  different  missions.  One 
can  hardly  realize  the  difficulty  of  this  work. 
It  is  an  effort  to  bring  to  the  minds  of  these 
lifetime  prisoners  such  glimpses  from  life  in 
the  great  free  world  that  Jesus  gives  to  woman 
in  Christian  lands,  that  they  will  catch  some- 
thing of  the  inspiration  and  hope  which  she 
enjoys.  Suppose  a  child  of  Christian  American 
parentage  were  so  imprisoned  for  life  that  no 
ray  of  light  from  any  of  our  institutions — civil, 
educational,  or  religious — could  reach  her,  and 
she  should  grow  up  in  utter  ignorance  of  all 
the  world  except  of  two  or  three  fellow-prison- 

118 


CONQUERED  BY  BROKEN  HEALTH.       119 

ers  and  of  one  ignorant  man  who  imposed 
falsehoods  upon  her  credulity  and  tightened  her 
bonds  of  delusion, — how  difficult  it  would  be  to  so 
present  Christian  life  to  her,  while  still  in  prison, 
that  it  would  benefit  her  in  any  lasting  sense ! 
And  yet  the  task  is  even  more  difficult  in  the 
case  of  the  zenana  woman  ;  for  she  is  the  child 
of  a  motherhood  imprisoned  from  the  centuries 
beyond  the  horizon  of  history.  We  can  not  ap- 
preciate how  utterly  undeveloped  these  women 
are.  They  are  not  women  in  any  other  sense 
than  in  body  and  years ;  otherwise,  they  are  de- 
luded children.  It  is  significant  that,  when  a 
present  is  made,  these  mothers  appreciate  above 
everything  else  the  gift  of  a  dressed  doll.  Only 
those  who  have  been  taught  by  the  missionaries 
to  sew,  can  make  even  dolls'  clothes ;  and  they, 
it  is  said,  take  as  much  pleasure  as  children  in 
playing  with  dolls.  From  this,  one  can  see  how 
difficult  it  must  be  to  find  or  write  stories  so 
suited  to  their  experience,  and  at  once  of  such 
a  character  as  to  help  them  to  the  Christian  life. 
It  would  be  impossible,  as  a  rule,  were  it  not 
that  the  work  of  the  editor  is  supplemented  by 
that  of  the  zenana  teacher,  who  answers  the  ques- 
tions awakened  ,by  what  is  read  in  the  paper. 
There  were  a  thousand  copies  of  Mathar  Mitkiri 
issued  each  month  while  Airs.  Isham  was  editor. 
Most  of  them  found  their  way  to  the  zenanas ; 


izo  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

and  great  good  must  steadily  be  accomplished 
in  this  way.  But  with  all  her  other  work  and 
care,  and  the  fact  that  her  eyes  and  head  were 
never  free  from  pain,  which  was  aggravated 
by  the  required  reading  and  writing,  my  wife 
found  this  editorial  work  wholly  in  excess 
of  her  strength.  But  there  seemed  no  way  to 
escape  it.  It  was  Mrs.  Rudisill's  dying  request, 
and  there  was  no  one  else  who  was  not  as  busy, 
or  busier,  who  could  do  it.  There  was,  too,  a 
strong  fascination  about  the  work  that  would 
indispose  .any  missionary  to  refuse ;  and  so  it 
was  undertaken. 

Almost  continually  after  our  return  from  the 
hills  in'  July,  Mrs.  Isham  was  in  the  care  of  a 
physician  of  one  sort  or  another.  There  are 
plenty  of  first-class  physicians  in  most  of  the 
large  cities  and  military  stations  in  India.  The 
lives  and  health  of  British  soldiers  and  civilians 
are  so  valuable  to  the  Government  that  it  pays 
England  to  establish  and  support — at  India's 
expense,  of  course — an  elaborate  hospital  sys- 
tem. And  because  this  establishment  is  sup- 
ported from  the  revenues  of  India,  and  be- 
cause the  Government  seeks  to  do  everything 
practicable  to  improve  the  health  of  the  people 
and  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  cities,  by 
treatment,  education,  and  sanitary  regulation, 
these  hospitals  and  dispensaries  are  open  to  all 


t 
CONQUERED  BY  BROKEN  HEALTH.   121 

* 

who  will  take  advantage  of  them.  To  the  poor 
patient,  they  furnish  free  bed,  food,  nursing, 
and  medical  treatment;  and  those  who  are  able 
to  pay  are  charged  fees  rated  according  to  the 
amount  of  their  respective  monthly  incomes. 
These  hospitals  are  well  equipped,  and  manned 
by  the  best  physicians,  graduated  from  Indian, 
English,  and  Scotch  medical  colleges. 

Madras,  for  instance,  has  a  very  large  mili- 
tary hospital  for  men  only ;  another  for  women 
only;  another  for  women  and  children;  arid  an- 
other for  all  classes,  called  "the  Eye  Infirm- 
ary,"— all  supported  from  the  public  treasury, 
and  open  to  patients  of  all  classes  and  races. 
Besides  these,  there  are  other  private  and  mis- 
sion hospitals.  In  connection  with  each  Gov- 
ernment hospital,  there  is  an  out-patients'  dis- 
pensary, where  all  who  will  may  consult  a 
physician,  and  get  his  prescriptions  filled,  with- 
out cost  if  unable  to  pay.  Of  course,  since  the 
entire  system  is  supported  from  public  funds, 
it  is  as  much  each  one's  right  to  partake  of  its 
benefits  as  it  is  our  right  to  send  our  children 
to  the  public  schools  here  in  America.  Hence 
very  many  of  the  well-to-do,  as  well  as  poor, 
when  sick,  seek  and  obtain  admission  to  the 
hospitals.  During  September,  Mrs.  Isham  be- 
gan an  out-patient's  course  of  treatment  at  the 
Eye  Infirmary.  She  continued  going  for  weeks, 


122  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

until — after  having  prescribed  glasses,  which 
afforded  but  slight  relief — the  oculist  said  he 
could  give  her  no  further  relief,  as  her  general 
ill-health  was  the  cause  of  the  pain  in  her  eyes. 
He  advised  an  immediate  change  of  climate. 

Our  family  physician  came  regularly  to  our 
house;  and  one  day  told  us  that  his  patient 
was  suffering  from  no  organic  difficulty  he  could 
find,  but  from  a  general  decline  of  health — and 
possibly  some  mischief  was  working  in  the 
brain — which  could  be  relieved  only  by  return- 
ing to  America.  He  felt  very  sure  that  she 
was  not  going  to  stand  the  strain  of  becoming 
acclimated  to  India,  and  that  attempting  to  re- 
main would  very  likely  cost  us  her  life. 

He  advised  me  to  write  Bishop  Thoburn  at 
once;  while  he  would  call  a  physician  in  con- 
sultation, and,  after  thorough  examination,  they 
would,  if  agreed,  certify  in  writing  to  her  ill- 
health  and  need  of  change  home.  Our  physi- 
cian had  had  thirty  years'  experience  in  medical 
service  in  many  parts  of  India,  and  he  was  de- 
cided in  the  opinion  that  no  change  of  climate 
in  that  country  could  relieve  his  patient.  We 
wrote  to  the  bishop,  and  followed  it  up  with 
the  certificate,  which  the  physicians  concurred 
in  giving. 

We  were  greatly  disappointed  and  chagrined 
at  the  thought  of  having  to  give  up  the  battle; 


CONQUERED  BY  BROKEN  HEALTH.   123 

and  when  Bishop  Thoburn's  reply  reached  us, 
we  were  sure  that  he  did  not  intend  we  should 
give  it  up,  except  as  a  last  resort  to  save  life. 
He  submitted  the  certificate  to  a  leading  physi- 
cian of  Calcutta,  who  encouraged  him  to  believe 
that  the  symptoms  it  reported  indicated  a  state 
of  health  which  might  be  relieved  by  change  of 
climate  in  India;  and  when  the  bishop  proposed 
to  transfer  us  to  Lucknow,  we  gladly  and  hope- 
fully consented  to  it.  This  set  the  matter  of 
our  change  at  rest  for  the  time  being,  and  we 
continued  at  our  post  in  Madras  till  after  Con- 
ference, which  met  late  in  January.  Bishop 
and  Mrs.  Thoburn  visited  Madras  before  Confer- 
ence. Mrs.  Thoburn,  being  herself  an  M.  D., 
called  another  eminent  missionary  physician  in 
consultation,  and  they  encouraged  us  to  hope 
that  we  might  find  health  for  my  wife,  and  con- 
tinue in  the  field  by  changing  to  the  North, 
though  they  considered  it  only  a  doubtful  ex- 
periment. 

But  for  myself,  this  was  the  most  trying  time 
in  all  my  life's  experience.  It  was  by  no  means 
easy  to  see  clearly  the  line  of  highest  duty  at 
all  times.  The  conflict  in  the  opinions  of  emi- 
nent physicians,  and  that  between  duty  to  the 
Church  and  to  one's  family;  my  wife's  uncer- 
tainty of  conviction  as  to  the  right  course  for 
us  to  take;  the  knowledge  that  every  day 


124  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

brought  increase  of  suffering  and  loss  of  strength 
to  one  so  precious  to  many;  the  fact  that  one 
missionary,  whose  symptoms  had  been  similar 
to  my  wife's,  had  disregarded  nature's  warning 
until  she  had  lost  her  reason  and  finally  her 
life;  and  the  ever-increasing  pressure  of  the 
work  as  the  year  drew  to  a  close, — made  for  us 
some  gloomy  months.  But  I  came  to  see  that 
I  was  not  responsible  either  for  my  wife's  being 
in  India,  or  for  keeping  her  there.  She  would 
not  say,  "I  must  go  home;"  Bishop  Thoburn 
was  not  ready  to  release  us,  and  I  could  not; 
so,  much  as  I  sympathized  with  and  feared  for 
my  wife,  I  found  I  still  had  about  nothing  to 
do  but  to  trust  in  God  and  obey  orders.  Bishop 
Thoburn  was  tender  and  sympathetic,  but  at 
the  same  time  wisely  checked  our  haste,  and 
conserved  both  our  own  and  the  Church's  best 
interests.  He  dealt  with  us  as  a  father,  and  we 
shall  always  feel  greatly  indebted  to  him  for  the 
kindly  wisdom  of  his  counsel  and  the  steadi- 
ness of  his  hand  in  helping  us  safely  through 
this  time  of  peril. 

I  was  so  connected  with  important  matters 
in  the  South  India  Conference  that  it  was  neces- 
sary for  me  to  attend  it,  and  our  transfer  to  the 
North  India  Conference  was  not  made  till  the 
close  of  our  own.  /The  session  was  held  at 
Hyderabad,  the  capital  of  the  Deccan  State, 


CONQUERED  BY  BROKEN  HEALTH..      125 
known   as   the  Nizam's  Dominions.     It  was  to 

* 

me  a  season  of  great  religious  refreshing,  and 
of  helpfulness  .on  many  lines ;  and  I  returned  to 
Madras  determined  at  least  to  be  true  to  God,  as 
far  as  I  could  see  clearly  the  line  of  duty. 

I  reached  home  on  a  Wednesday  morning, 
and  found  we  could  sail  for  Calcutta  by  Satur- 
day, if  we  could  get  packed  up-  and  aboard. 
With  much  hurry  and  hard  work  we  were  ready 
by  Friday  night.  Then  came  the  farewell  re- 
ceptions tendered  by  the  League,  the  Sunday- 
school,  and  the  Church,  on  the  same  evening 
and  at  the  same  place.  The  Sunday-school 
gave  theirs  first.  The'  superintendent  presided ; 
and  an  address,  signed  by  efvery  member  of  the 
school,  was  read,  and,  together  with  a  purse  of 
money,  was  handed  to  us.  Then,  after  a  re- 
sponse from  the  retiring  pastor  and  farewells  to 
the  school,  the  Epworth  League,  with  a  differ- 
ent chairman,  followed  in  like  order.  And  last 
of  all  came  the  farewell  of  the  Church.  The 
purses  contained  about  fifty  dollars.  The  art- 
lessness  of  the  expressions  of  affectionate  ap- 
preciation proved  their  genuineness.  Major 
Wm.  Marshall,  who  presided  for  the  Church, 
broke  down  in  an  attempt  to  express  the  esteem 
in  which  we  were  held  by  those  whom  we  had 
tried  to  help  for  two  years.  His  tears  and 
choking  emotion  were  more  eloquent  than  any 


126  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

words  could  be,  and,  we  felt,  truly  expressed  the 
sentiments  of  many  hearts.  I  write  this  merely 
to  show  that  these  people  appreciate  the  sacri- 
fices and  efforts  made  in  their  behalf.  We  were 
not  more  loved  than  any  faithful  minister  and 
his  wife  would  be — perhaps  not  so  much  loved 
as  many  are — and  yet  we  have  not  been  shown 
such  affection-  elsewhere.  It  was  hard  for  us  to 
sever  from  a  people  to  whom  we  were  so  knit 
in  the  bonds  of  affection,  and  with  most  of  whom 
we  had  walked  in  the  deepest  valleys  of  affliction 
known  to  humanity. 

On  Saturday  we  were  helped  and  escorted 
aboard  our  ship  by  a  large  company  of  friends, 
very  few  of  whom  it  is  likely  we  shall  ever  see 
again.  And  so  ended  our  two  years  in  Madras. 
We  had  passage  on  a  splendid  ship — the  Gol- 
conda — of  the  British  India  Steamship  Company, 
and  had  a  quiet,  pleasant  voyage  of  four  days 
to  Calcutta.  Mrs.  Isham  was  so  ill  that  she 
could  not  bear  the  sea-breeze  on  deck,  and  so, 
being  confined  to  her  state-room,  got  but  little 
benefit  from  the  trip. 

Bishop  and  Mrs.  Thoburn  were  away  in 
South  India,  and  had  directed  us  to  occupy 
their  rooms,  which  we  were  delighted  to  do 
during  our  week's  stay  in  the  capital  of  the 
empire.  We  were  impressed  with  the  extreme 
simplicity  of  the  bishop's  style  of  living.  The 


CONQUERED  BY  BROKEN  HEALTH.   127 

rooms  occupied  by  his  family  were  in  the  build- 
ing known  as  the  Deaconess  Home.  One  long 
room,  divided  by  a  curtain  partition,  served  as 
offices  for  the  bishop  and  Mrs.  Thoburn.  This, 
and  a  moderate  sized  sleeping-room,  with  the 
regulation  bath  and  dressing  rooms,  completed 
the  list  of  their  apartments.  They  took  their 
meals  at  the  Home  table,  and  thus  avoided  the 
expense  and  care  of  a  separate  establishment. 
There  was  not  an  article  of  furniture  that 
could  be  dispensed. with;  and  while  everything 
was  clean  and  tidy,  all  was  plain  and  sub- 
stantial. 

Our  stay  in  Calcutta  was  somewhat  restful; 
but  Mrs.  Isham  had  again  to  submit  to  the 
now-become-odious  ordeal  of  medical  examina- 
tion and  quizzing,  with  the  usual  result  of  dis- 
agreement between  the  physicians.  One  advised 
returning  to  America;  the  other  believed  India 
had  climate  that  would  restore  her  health.  We 
were  treated  with  great  kindness  by  the  mis- 
sionaries in  Calcutta,  and  would  have  lengthened 
our  short  vacation  with  them  gladly;  but  our 
new  work — the  pastorate  of  the  English  Church 
in  Lucknow — had  been  waiting  long  for  our 
coining,  and  we  hastened  on. 

We  left  Calcutta  about  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  traveling  by  rail  in  a  northwesterly 
direction  up  the  Ganges  Valley.  Daylight,  the 


128  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

following  morning,  found  us  in  the  midst  of 
scenes  at  once  beautiful  and  strange  to  us.  It 
was  about  the  middle  of  February,  when  the 
wheat  is  golden  and  the  poppies  in  bloom ;  for 
these  rich  wheat-lands  are  also  rich  opium- 
lands.  From  the  poppies  grown  here  the  deadly 
drug,  for  which  England  forces  China  to  fur- 
nish a  market — to  the  ruin  of  her  people — is 
manufactured.  Fields  of  gold,  of  red,  and  of 
white  interchange;  and  here  and  there  are  com- 
panies of  harvesters,  with  hand-sickles,  gather- 
ing the  handfuls  into  huge  bundles  for  the 
women  to  carry  -to  the  village  threshing-floor. 
All  day  we  were  in  scenes  like  these,  broken 
now  and  then  by  villages,  towns,  and  impor- 
tant cities.  We  passed  through  Benares — the 
Mecca  of  the  Hindus — and  other  places  of  in- 
terest and  importance,  and  reached  Lucknow  at 
one  o'clock  of  the  second  night. 

Dr.  Mansell — for  more  than  thirty  years  a 
missionary  in  India,  and  our  new  presiding 
elder — met  us  at  the  station  with  a  carriage,  to 
take  us  to  the  waiting  parsonage.  We  were  also 
met  by  a  delegation  of  our  new  parishioners, 
with  a  quantity  of  milk  for  our  children.  Such 
an  attention  would  hardly  be  expected  even  in 
America.  But  our  children  were  asleep,  and 
this  carefulness  for  them  was  wholly  superfluous. 
Dr.  Mansell's  house  was  in  the  same  compound 


CONQUERED  BY  BROKEN  HEALTH.   129 

as  the  parsonage,  and  his  good  wife  had  a  lunch 
awaiting.  We  ate,  of  course ;  but  were  too  tired 
and  sick  to  enjoy  it  at  that  hour.  It  was  about 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  we  went  over 
to  our  own  home — Dr.  Mansell  carrying  one 
of  our  sleeping  children,  and  I  the  other.  Im- 
agine our  surprise  when  we  found  the  great 
gloomy  house  stripped  of  everything  but  dust. 
It  was  just  as  it  had  been  left  weeks  before  by 
our  predecessor,  with  dust  accumulations  added. 
There  were  no  mattresses  on  the  bedsteads,  no 
curtains  between  the  rooms,  no  water — no  any- 
thing, except  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Isham  from  a  mis- 
sionary who  had  recently  returned  to  America, 
instructing  her,  in  a  rather  mandatory  and  warn- 
ing tone,  about  her  new  duties.  To  make  mat- 
ters worse,  the  wrong  trunks — those  of  a  Mrs. 
Colonel  some  one — had  been  brought  from  the 
station  instead  of  our  own.  Dr.  Mansell  carried 
over  some  mattresses ;  and  we  patched  up  such 
cover  as  we  could,  and  lay  down — three  of  us — 
to  sleep,  but  my  poor  wife  to  cry  all  to  herself 
from  nervousness  and  the  sense  of  insufficiency 
for  the  requirements  of  our  new  work.  If  we 
had  been  well,  this  night's  experience  could 
easily  have  been  laughed  through;  but  under 
the  circumstances  it  was  rather  trying. 

To  us,  this  seemed,  as  we  looked  at  the  map, 
much  more  of  a  change  than  it   really  was  at 

9 


130  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

the  time  of  the  year  we  made  it.  Lucknow  is 
farther  due  north  from  Madras  than  Milwaukee 
is  from  New  Orleans.  If  we  had  made  the 
change  in  September,  it  would  have  made  great 
difference ;  and,  with  the  bracing  effect  of  a 
North  India  winter,  we  might  have  continued  to 
work  on  there  for  years.  But  to  reach  Lucknow 
late  in  the  winter,  when  the  sun  is  returning  in 
power,  when  all  India  is  dry  as  a  desert,  and 
when  the  burning  winds  and  dust-storms  are 
setting  in,  is  "jumping  from  the  fat  to  the  fire." 
North  India,  from  the  beginning  of  March  to 
the  middle  of  June,  is  hotter,  and  severer  every 
way  as  to  climate,  than  is  Madras.  The  temper- 
ature rarely  goes  above  110°  in  Madras,  while  it 
reaches  120°  or  higher  in  Lucknow  and  at  other 
North  India  points.  This  is  due  partly  to  the 
fact  that  the  rains  on  the  Madras  coast  come 
later  by  five  months  than  to  the  rest  of  India, 
and  partly  to  the  moderating  effect  of  the  sea 
at  Madras.  Lucknow  has  continental  climate, 
which,  of  course,  means  greater  extreme?. 
Madras  has  continual  summer,  while  Lucknow 
has  a  much  more  decided  summer,  and  a  mild 
winter,  with  frost  and  very  thin  ice. 

This  change  intensely  aggravated  Mrs.  Ish- 
am's  suffering,  and  rendered  her  unable  to  plan 
and  execute  even  the  household  arrangements. 
We  were  trying  to  get  hold  of  our  work,  and 


CONQUERED  BY  BROKEN  HEALTH.   131 

furnish  and  make  presentable  our  great  gloomy 
parsonage.  This  was  a  very  trying  work,  as  we 
had  little  money  and  few  ornaments.  While  at- 
tempting to  get  this  work  done,  Mrs.  Isham 
completely  broke  down.  Mrs.  Dr.  Badley  called 
one  day  while  I  was  out,  and,  seeing  how  utterly 
hazardous  it  was  to  her  life  to  continue  to  bear 
any  sort  of  care,  induced  her  to  go  home  with 
her.  The  missionaries  then  took  matters  into 
their  own  hands — sent  for  Dr.  Cleghorn,  who, 
after  an  examination,  advised  our  immediate 
return  home.  Then  my  wife  gave  up.  She 
said  it  seemed  the  obligation  to  stay  was  lifted 
from  her  all  at  once,  and  she  felt  it  her  duty  to 
come.  She  has  never  since  seen  it  in  any  other 
light.  The  following  quotation,  which,  without 
even  a  thought  or  a  suggestion  from  -us,  ap- 
peared in  the  Indian  Witness — the  official  organ 
of  the  Church  in  India — sums  up,  I  think,  the 
verdict  of  the  missionaries  who  were  familiar 
with  the  facts:  "The  Rev.  Geo.  W.  Isham  and 
Mrs.  Isham  had  no  sooner  reached  Lucknow  than 
Dr.  Cleghorn,  so  well  and  favorably  known  as  a 
medical  authority  throughout  the  Northwest,  per- 
emptorily ordered  Mrs.  Isham  to  America  to  stay, 
as  she  is  'constitutionally  unfitted  for  residence 
in  India.'  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Isham  have  done  their 
best  to  stay.  They  have  remained  when  others 
less  determined,  or  less  attached  to  the  field, 


132  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

would  have  given  up  the  battle  which  Mrs. 
Isham  has  waged  against  pain  and  weakness 
and  lassitude.  They  go,  regretting  their  ina- 
bility to  remain,  as  all  the  mission  staff  and 
their  many  South-of-India  friends  regret  to 
spare  them.  Both  have  been  honored  servants 
of  the  Master  in  India.  The  work  they  have 
done  will  abide." 


Chapter  XII. 
HOMEWARD  TRAVELS. 

WE  telegraphed  Dr.  Cleghorn's  advice  to 
Bishop  Thoburn;  and,  in  reply,  he  di- 
rected us  to  return  to  America  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble. Our  recently  unpacked  effects  were  shortly 
repacked,  and  shipped  to  Bombay.  Freight 
travels  very  slowly  in  India;  and  it  would 
take  at  least  a  week  for  our  boxes  to  reach 
the  sea.  We  concluded  to  stay  in  the  North 
until  as  near  sailing-time  as  possible.  We  would 
have  at  least  a  week.  Mrs.  Badley  urged  me 
to  use  the  time  seeing  as  much  as  possible 
of  North  India.  I  visited,  however,  but  two  of 
the  great  cities ;  viz.,  Agra  and  Cawnpore.  The 
former  is  the  capital  of  the  Province  of  the  same 
name,  which  was  formerly  an  important  Moham- 
medan State.  An  object  of  great  interest  here  is 
Fort  Akbar,  the  royal  fortress  of  the  Moham- 
medan era.  This  contains  the  celebrated  "Pearl 
Mosque,"  the  king's  harem,  the  palace  of  Shah 
Jehan,  royal  reception-halls,  Government  build- 
ings, courtly  residences,  baths,  etc. — built  mostly 
of  white  marble  on  red-sandstone  foundations, 


134  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

ornamented  everywhere  with  mosaics  of  pre- 
cious stones  and  delicate  tracery.  These  build- 
ings are  partly  in  ruins,  but  largely  in  a  good 
state  of  preservation.  The  British  Government 
has  restored  in  cheaper  materials  the  broken 
pillars,  and  parts  of  the  gilded  ceilings,  so  that 
one  can  get  a  fair  conception  of  what  they  were 
in  the  palmy  days  of  Mohammedan  glory. 
This  fort  is  now  occupied  by  a  garrison  of 
English  soldiers.  But  the  object  of  greatest 
interest  is  the  celebrated  Taj  Mahal,  situated  in 
the  midst  of  a  forty-acre  garden  of  rich  foliage 
and  flowers,  about  a  mile  east  of  the  fort,  on 
the  banks  of  the  river  Jumna.  Taj  Mahal  is  a 
splendid  mausoleum,  built  by  Shah  Jehan  (king 
of  the  world)  for  himself  and  favorite  wife, 
Noor  Mahal,  sometimes  called  Noor  Jehan 
(light  of  the  world).  In  many  respects,  the 
Taj  Mahal  is  one  of  the  most  superb  edifices  in 
the  world.  Twenty  thousand  workmen  are  said 
to  have  been  employed  for  twenty-two  years  in 
building  it ;  and  its  estimated  cost  is  $4,000,000, 
which  expresses  but  the  merest  fraction  of  what 
its  cost  would  be  if  erected  in  this  country. 
The  well-kept  garden  in  which  it  is  situated 
may  be  entered  on  either  of  three  sides  through 
a  palatial  gateway.  When  I  stepped  from  the 
carriage  at  the  entrance  to  one  of  these  gates, 
I  at  first  mistook  it  for  the  Taj  itself;  but, 


HOMEWARD  ^TRAVELS.  135 

upon  passing  through  to  the  veranda  on  the 
garden  side,  in  full  view  of  the  glorious  tomb, 
as  it  rises  from  the  rich  green  of  the  surround- 
ing foliage  under  the  brilliance  of  an  Indian 
sun,  in  the  loveliness  of  its  heavenly  white,  I 
felt  that  I  was  standing  in  the  sacred  precincts 
of  the  realms  of  glory.  Its  proportions,  har- 
mony, symmetry,  and  unity  are  such  that  one 
can  hardly  think  it  was  made  by  hands.  It  is 
one  hundred  feet  in  diameter  and  two  hundred 
feet  in  height,  built  in  the  form  of  an  irregular 
octagon,  and  rising  from  a  marble  terrace  at 
least  two  hundred  feet  square  and  fifteen  to 
twenty  feet  high,  which  in  turn  rests  upon  a 
red-sandstone  terrace  of  about  the  same  height 
and  at  least  four  hundred  feet  square.  At  the 
corners  of  the  second  or  marble  terrace  are 
lofty  minarets ;  and  in  the  center  of  the  main 
building  rises  a  magnificent  dome,  flanked  by 
cupolas  of  similar  form.  Both  the  interior  and 
exterior  are  decorated  with  mosaics  of  precious 
stones  and  the  most  exquisite  tracery.  The 
entire  Koran  is  said  to  be  written  in  the  mosa- 
ics of  precious  stones  on  the  interior  walls.  An 
echo  is  produced  in  the  dome,  which  so  magni- 
fies the  sound  of  the  voice  that  conversation  is 
next  to  impossible  beneath  it.  Common  talk- 
ing tones  become  like  the  reverberations  of 
thunder;  and  a  whisper,  like  the  roar  of  the  sea. 


136  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

The  sarcophagi  of  Jehan  and  Noor  Mahal  lie  in 
the  crypt  below  the  dome.  The  reign  of  Shah 
Jehan,  when  this  tomb  was  built,  marks  the 
climax  of  the  nation's  glory.  The  kingdom  ex- 
hausted itself  in  building  the  tomb  of  what 
they  were  pleased  to  call  "  the  king  of  the 
world  "  and  "  the  light  of  the  world."  When 
these  were  buried,  the  nation  faded  away.  It  is 
impossible  to  tell  by  whom  this  matchless  mon- 
ument of  human  genius  was  designed.  It  is 
held  by  some  to  have  been  conceived  by  an 
Italian  architect  who  was  in  the  service  of  the 
refined  and  cultured  Jehan ;  but  this,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  disputed  by  those  who  hold  to  the 
purely  Saracenic  origin  and  character  of  the 
Taj.  There  is  no  doubt  that  European  archi- 
tects were  employed  at  the  Mohammedan 
courts.  The  buildings  in  the  fort  at  Agra  and 
elsewhere  combine  European  features  of  all 
civilized  ages  with  Saracenic  principles.  But 
by  whomsoever  the  Taj  was  designed,  it  is 
purely  Saracenic  in  principle  and  ornamenta- 
tion. The  day  I  spent  at  Agra  was  one  full  of 
surprise  and  pleasure,  and  will  ever  be  remem- 
bered with  the  keenest  interest. 

At  night,  I  took  the  train  for  Cawnpore,  and 
spent  the  forenoon  of  the  next  day  amid  the 
scenes  made  historic  and  perpetually  of  thrilling 
interest  by  the  heroic  sufferings  of.  the  English 


HOMEWARD  TRAVELS.  137 

residents  during  the  Sepoy  mutiny  of  1857. 
About  one  o'clock,  my  family,  kindly  accompa- 
nied by  Mrs.  Badley,  reached  Cawnpore;  and, 
taking  leave  of  this  good  friend  and  the  other 
missionaries,  we  started  on  our  long  and  weary 
journey  homeward. 

We  reached  Bombay, on  the  morning  of  the 
second  day.  The  weather  was  becoming  very 
oppressive,  and  we  were  detained  here  for  more 
than  a  week,  waiting  to  obtain  passage  by  the 
best  and  fastest  line  of  steamers.  On  Saturday, 
the  1 4th  of  March,  we  sailed  aboard  the  Bok- 
hara, of  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  Com- 
pany's line.  We  had  a  quiet  passage  across 
the  Arabian  Sea. 

We  transhipped  at  Aden  aboard  the 
through-liner  Paramatta,  on  her  six  weeks' 
voyage  from  Melbourne  to  London.  Nearly 
every  part  of  the  world  was  represented  on  our 
passenger-rolls.  These  through-liners  are  to 
the  seas  what  through-trains  are  on  land.  Feed- 
ers from  New  Zealand,  from  Japan,  China,  Ma- 
laysia, India,  Palestine,  Egypt,  and  adjacent 
lands,  bring  mails  and  passengers  to  convenient 
points  along  the  path  of  the  great  ships.  We 
spent  over  two  weeks  in  this  sea-home,  harmon- 
izing the  rest  of  the  world  to  us,  and  being  har- 
monized to  the  rest  of  the  world.  The  tropical 
heat  continued  till  we  reached  the  Mediter- 


138  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

ranean,  where  we  were  struck  by  a  cold  north 
wind,  which  seemed  severe  to  us.  Our  course 
was  due  northwest  from  Port  Said.  All  the 
second  day  we  sailed  along  the  coast  of  south- 
western Greece.  The  atmosphere  was  so  clear 
that,  by  the  aid  of  glasses,  we  could  see  the 
shepherds  and  their  flocks  on  the  hillsides,  and 
the  people  moving  about  in  the  villages. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day  we  landed 
at  Brindisi,  Italy.  This  is  the  terminus  of  the 
Continental  Railway,  which,  excepting  the  En- 
glish Channel,  connects  the  Mediterranean  with 
the  Atlantic  at  Queenstown,  at  the  southwest  ex- 
tremity of  Ireland,  by  rail.  The  mails  and  hur- 
ried travelers  take  the  train — made  up  at  Brindisi 
of  mail-carriages,  baggage-vans,  and  Pullman 
sleepers — and,  hurrying  on,  reach  Queenstown 
one  week  in  advance  of  those  who  come  by  sea. 
We  lost  some  passengers  and  gained  some  new 
ones  at  this  landing.  We  spent  some  hours  in 
the  town;  visited  the  cathedral,  and  heard  the 
priests  chanting  their  mummeries;  saw  the  be- 
nighted women,  and  an  occasional  wretched 
man,  worshiping  the  Virgin's  statue;  saw  others 
telling  their  sins,  through  perforated  tin,  to  a 
drunken  priest,  sitting  in  the  confessional  box, — 
and  felt  these  people  to  be  even  more  blindly 
pagan,  as  far  as  they  differ  at  all,  than  the  Hin- 
dus of  India.  We  went  through  a  room  where, 


HOMEWARD  TRAVELS.  139 

in  large  glass  cases  were  kept  life-sized  images 
of  the  Savior  as  he  went  through  the  different 
scenes  and  acts  of  his  life,  together  with  images 
of  the  leading  characters  who  acted  with  him. 
At  the  time  of  certain  Church  festivals  these 
images  are  carried  in  procession  through  the 
streets.  One  sickens  of  everything  about  him 
here,  and  feels,  as  he  sees  the  crowds  of  lub- 
berly priests  lording  it  over  the  oppressed  and 
deluded  people,  that  he  would  like  to  hitch  them 
up  and  make  them  plow. 

We  left  Brindisi  on  Saturday  evening,  and 
when  we  awoke  the  next  morning  we  were  in 
the  harbor  at  Valetta,  the  capital  of  Malta. 
We  were  here  some  hours,  and,  going  ashore, 
had  a  ramble  through  the  town.  Valetta  was 
built  mostly  by  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  who 
owned  and  occupied  Malta  from  the  early  part 
of  the  sixteenth  century  till  it  was  wrested  from 
them,  in  1798,  by  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  In 
1800  the  English  wrested  it  from  the  French, 
and  it  has  ever  since  remained  a  British  pos- 
session. The  island  was  originally  a  barren 
rock,  but  has  been  spread  over  with  a  thin  soil 
imported  from  Sicily,  and  is  now  made  very 
productive  by  careful  cultivation.  Cotton  is  the 
staple  product  of  all  the  three  islands  included 
in  speaking  of  Malta,  and  much  of  it  is  manu- 
factured by  English  factories  on  the  islands. 


140  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

Malta  grows  much  delicious  fruit — its  oranges, 
olives,  and  figs  being  renowned.  A  clearer  at- 
mosphere is  not  known.  Mount  Etna,  which 
is  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  away  on  the 
island  of  Sicily,  can  be  seen  at  the  rising  and 
setting  of  the  sun  at  all  times  of  the  year. 
There  is  no  end  to  the  objects  of  interest  in 
and  about  Valetta.  It  has  one  of  the  finest 
harbors  in  the  Mediterranean.  This,  together 
with  its  central  position  and  military  strength, 
render  the  possession  of  Malta  of  great  impor- 
tance to  Great  Britain.  It  is  one  of  the  best 
fortified  points  in  the  world,  having  vast  store- 
houses for  grain  excavated  in  the  solid  rock.  It 
is  the  center  of  the  grain-trade  between  the 
Mediterranean  and  Black  Seas.  It  serves  as  a 
station  for  the  British  Mediterranean  fleet.  A 
new  Government  grading-dock  was  put  in  a 
few  years  ago,  which  is  capable  of  receiving 
the  largest  war-vessels;  and  the  hydraulic  lift- 
dock  is  of  great  benefit  to  commerce,  especially 
to  steamers  of  the  India  route,  as  by  means  of 
it  vessels  can  be  repaired  without  discharging 
their  cargoes. 

Historically  and  in  architecture  Valetta  and 
other  points  on  the  islands  are  very  interesting. 
There  are  old  Roman  monuments;  Saracenic 
remains;  a  chapel,  built  at  the  point  where  St. 
Paul  and  the  company  of  his  wrecked  ship  are 


HOMEWARD  TRAVELS.  141 

supposed  to  have  been  thrown  ashore;  the 
splendid  St.  John's  Cathedral,  built  by  the 
knights;  the  armory  of  this  order,  containing 
the  finest  tapestry,  and  a  very  fine  collection  of 
knightly  armor;  the  Governor's  Palace;  the 
carriage  of  Napoleon, — together  with  many 
Maltese  peculiarities  and  niceties,  make  one  feel 
that  he  is  at  the  crossroads  of  all  history  and 
modern  civilization.  Fortunately  for  us  it  was 
Sunday,  and  we  were  thus  prevented  from  buy- 
ing any  of  the  tempting  articles  brought  aboard 
the  ship  or  offered  on  the  streets.  Maltese  lace 
is  celebrated  for  its  beauty,  and,  being  in  great 
demand  by  travelers,  is  temptingly  displayed 
everywhere.  Bales  of  it  are  brought  aboard, 
and  the  shop-windows  are  full  of  it.  My  wife 
had  a  fight  for  conscience'  sake,  but  refused  all 
offers.  She  was  much  comforted  when,  a  day 
or  two  afterward,  an  English  manufacturer  told 
us  that  all  the  lace  we  saw  in  Valetta  was  made 
in  England,  and  we  could  buy  plenty  of  the  same 
patterns  in  any  of  the  good  towns  of  Britain. 
It  is  very  difficult,  he  said,  to  get  real  Maltese 
lace,  as  it  is  made  by  hand  by  the  nuns,  and 
except  one  could  procure  it  from  the  priests, 
he  could  not  get  it  at  all.  The  English  are 
skillful  imitators,  and  their  goods  go  everywhere. 
The  hawkers  from  Central  Asia  will  offer  fine 
hand-made  camel's-hair  shawls  to  the  tourist  at 


142  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

way-up  prices,  and  when  he  presents  the  rare 
article  to  the  friend  for  whom  it  is  intended,  he 
will  likely  be  told  that  it  is  an  English  imita- 
tion, made  of  merino  wool,  and  on  sale  gener- 
ally in  the  home-land.  Vast  fortunes  are  made 
by  the  sale  to  Englishmen  abroad,  at  high 
prices,  of  ingenious  imitations  of  rare  and  costly 
articles. 

Sunday  noon  we  swung  out  again  to  the  sea, 
and  sailed  all  the  afternoon  in  sight  of  Mount 
Etna,  crowned  with  eternal  white,  but  with  a 
vast  crater  of  blackness  on  the  seaward  side. 
For  twenty  days  after  leaving  Bombay  the 
weather  was  beautiful,  and  the  sea  was  often  as 
smooth  as  glass.  It  was  especially  so  from 
Malta  to  Gibraltar,  which  we  reached  Thursday 
evening.  We  stopped  but  a  short  time,  and 
then  passed  out  into  the  storms  of  the  Atlantic. 
Tkursday  night  and  Friday  were  severely 
stormy,  and  we  were  all  seasick.  Saturday  was 
quieter.  Sunday  morning  was  foggy ;  but  about 
two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  fog  lifted,  the 
sun  broke  through,  and  the  green  banks  about 
Plymouth,  England,  rested  our  weary,  longing 
eyes. 

Our  passage  was  to  London,  but  we  could 
stop  at  Plymouth.  London  was  yet  twenty- 
four  hours  distant  through  the  channel,  where, 
it  is  said,  "all  the  mad  winds  and  waves  of 


HOMEWARD  TRAVELS.  143 

heaven  and  earth  meet  to  fight  their  battles." 
So,  as  we  had  only  light  traveling  baggage  with 
us,  we  landed,  on  a  quiet  Sunday  afternoon, 
from  the  harbor  whence  sailed  the  Mayflower 
long  ago,  and  for  which  the  first  New  England 
settlement  was  named.  And  it  was  Sunday- 
quiet,  English  Sunday.  The  customs  officers 
hurriedly  passed  our  baggage,  and  we  were 
shortly  cozily  settled  in  a  snug  lodging-house, 
which  had  been  recommended  to  us  by  a  pas- 
senger from  Australia.  O,  the  restfulness,  the 
preciousness,  of  this  quiet  Sabbath,  after  living 
two  and  a  half  years  where  there  is  no  Sabbath 
in  any  true  sense!  At  night  I  went  to  the 
Wesleyan  Church.  The  preacher  dispensed  the 
word  from  an  old-fashioned  high-box  pulpit, 
but  not  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  any  im- 
pression on  as  weary  a  listener  as  I  was.  There 
was  just  one  thing  that  impressed  me  here  and 
everywhere — it  seemed  in  the  very  atmos- 
phere— the  delicious  restfulness.  It  was  Easter 
Sunday,  and  Monday  was  a  holiday,  and  the 
substantial  English  farmers  came  to  town. 
Shops,  though,  were  for  the  most  part  closed, 
and  all  business  suspended.  Tuesday  we  took 
the  train,  via  the  seven-mile  tunnel  under  the 
Severn  River,  for  Liverpool.  We  were  com- 
fortably quartered  in  the  Commercial  Hotel  by 
eight  o'clock  at  night.  Wednesday  morning  we 


144  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

secured  passage  on  the  Etruria,  the  Cunard 
liner,  to  sail  Saturday.  We  spent  the  rest  of 
the  week  quietly,  as  there  was  little  of  much 
interest  to  us  about  Liverpool.  About  noon, 
Saturday,  we  went  aboard,  to  finish  the  voyage. 
As  our  splendid  ship  started  down  the  river 
to  the  sea,  I  was  standing  near  the  foremast.  I 
cast  my  eyes  upward,  and  found  the  American 
flag  floating  over  me.  I  never  before  realized 
how  beautiful  and  precious  the  old  flag  is  to' 
every  true  American.  We  had  seen  it  but  two 
or  three  times  in  all  our  wanderings;  and  when 
I  saw  it  floating  so  proudly  from  the  masthead 
above  me,  I  involuntarily  shouted  amid  tumul- 
tuous emotion,  "Glorious  flag!"  I  suspect  those 
Britishers  took  me  for  stark  mad ;  but  what  did 
I  care? — there  was  the  American  flag  over  me. 
I  am  not  ashamed  to  glory  in  it  anywhere.  We 
spent  the  night  doubling  Southern  Ireland,  and 
on  Sunday  morning  were  anchored  in  the 
harbor  at  Queenstown.  About  the  time  we 
started  from  Liverpool,  the  American  mails 
from  Australia,  all  the  Orient,  and  Continental 
Europe,  were  crossing  the  English  Channel 
from  Calais.  They  were  hurried  on  with  the 
passengers  who  came  by  rail,  and  overtook  us 
at  Queenstown.  These  mails  and  passengers, 
together  with  a  great  crowd  of  Irish  emigrants, 
came  aboard  about  noon.  It  is  very  interesting 


HOMEWARD  TRAVELS.  145 

to  see  the  excited  enthusiasm  of  these  impul- 
sive people.  As  they  drew  near  enough  on  the 
tug  to  be  able  to  distinguish  the  ship  that  was 
to  bring  them  over,  they  threw  their  hats  in  air, 
and  shouted  in  the  wildest  manner.  One  can 
imagine  something  of  the  emotions  which,  at 
such  a  time,  heave  in  the  breasts  of  these  lib- 
erty-loving people.  Many  of  them  have  looked 
forward  for  weary  years  to  this  time  of  starting 
to  the  land  of  every  good,  as  they  have  fondly 
dreamed.  They  have  toiled  for  money  to  pay 
their  passage  very  much  as  one  would  toil  to 
free  himself  from  prison,  or  to  emancipate  him- 
self from  slavery.  There  are  families  here  who 
are  going  to  join  husband  and  father,  who  has 
suffered  separation,  privation,  and  toil,  perhaps 
for  years,  that  he  might  better  his  own  and  his 
posterity's  condition.  There  are  young  women 
here  who  go  to  wed  the  lovers  gone  before. 
And  to  one  who  is  touched  with  sympathy  for 
the  emotions  awakened  by  human  hopes,  fears, 
and  struggles,  the  sight  is  interesting  in  the  ex- 
treme. We  often  complain  of  how  unworthy 
the  emigrants  who  come,  are  of  America;  but 
this  scene  was  so  touching  that  I  really  felt 
that  America  was  hardly  worthy  of  such  enthu- 
siasm ;  for  well  I  knew  that  the  majority  of  these 
people  would  be  sadly  disappointed  of  their 
hopes.  If  these  emigrants  were  met  as  they 


146  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

boarded  the  ship  by  a  wise,  warm-hearted  mis- 
sionary, and  religious  services  were  daily  con- 
ducted among  them  while  on  the  voyage,  much 
could  certainly  be  done  toward  the  solution  of 
our  home  missionary  problems.  While  on  the 
voyage,  impressions  are  easily  made;  and  the 
emigrant  is  hungry  for  sympathy,  an'd  open  to 
counsel.  He  has  about  a  week  of  unemployed 
time,  which,  it  is  likely,  he  will  never  have  after 
landing.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  much  more  ef- 
fectively Christianity  will  lay  hold  of  these  peo- 
ple if  it  comes  with  a  helping  hand  when  they 
are  in  the  struggles  of  their  life,  and  so  poor 
that  selfish  motives  can  not  be  charged,  than  it 
can  ever  do  if  it  is  not  broached  to  them  till 
they  are  settled  masters  of  the  situation.  I 
most  heartily  add  my  humble  second  to  the 
motion  already  made  by  Dr.  Buchtel  and  other 
leaders,  for  a  steamship  home  missionary  move- 
ment. 

We  had  a  somewhat  stormy  passage  across 
the  Atlantic,  reaching  New  York  on  Sunday, 
April  20th,  having  been  five  weeks  and  two 
days  on  the  way  from  Bombay,  and  having  been 
traveling  and  tossing  about  for  three  months. 
How  delicious  it  was  to  stroll,  on  that  beautiful 
Sunday  afternoon,  along  the  green  banks  of  the 
gliding  Hudson,  relieved  of  the  suspense  and 
keen  anxiety  for  the  life  and  health  of  my  heroic 


HOMEWARD  TRAVELS  147 

wife.  But  still  the  thought  that  we  were  not 
permitted  to  continue  in  the  midst  of  the 
Church's  glorious  conflict  at  the  front,  awak- 
ened a  deeper  undercurrent  of  regret,  and,  should 
we  allow  it,  would  be  a  source  of  continual  dis- 
appointment and  temptation.  But  regrets  save 
no  souls,  and  help  no  cause.  Since  we  can  not 
do  what  we  would,  we  shall  try  to  do  what  we 
can,  and  be  contented  in  the  Lord. 


PART  H.— MISSIONARY  LESSONS. 


Chapter  I. 
THE  WORK  AND  ITS  MAGNITUDE. 

CHRISTIANITY  is  for  this  world,  as  well  as 
V^  for  the  (Tons  to  come.  To  interpret  its 
purposes  and  work,  and  to  confine  its  benefits 
in  our  thought  merely  to  the  rescue  from  this 
world  at  death  of  the  few  it  may  convert  by 
direct  evangelizing  agencies,  is  to  rob  it  of  its 
grandeur,  to  render  it  well-nigh  contemptible 
to  the  practical  mind,  and  to  leave  utterly 
meaningless  all  the  glad  messages  in  God's 
Word  which  promise  the  emancipation  of  this 
earth  from  all  its  evil  conditions. 

We  hear  so  often  from  those  who  seek  an 
excuse  to  disobey  the  positive  command  of  the 
Savior  to  evangelize  the  world,  expressions  like 
this:  "If  the  heathen  are  not  enlightened,  they 
will  not  be  responsible ;  and  since  God  is  good, 
he  can  not  damn  the  irresponsible;  hence,  the 
heathen  must  be  saved,  if  they  are  not  enlight- 
ened ;  but  if  they  are  evangelized,  many  of  them 
will  reject  the  light  and  be  lost.  Therefore,  I  do 
148 


THE  WORK  AND  ITS  MAGNITUDE.       149 

not  believe  in  sending  them  the  gospel,  and  I 
shall  give  nothing  to  help  send  it."  One  who 
so  speaks,  sees  no  other  meaning  or  purpose  in 
the  Redeemer's  work  than  that  of  getting  souls 
into  heaven.  In  his  own  salvation  he  sees  only 
the  hope  of  getting  into  heaven.  If  he  does 
any  service,  it  is  to  advance  his  chances  of  en- 
tering the  pearly  gates.  He  goes  to  prayer  and 
class  meeting,  refrains  from  worldly  indulgences, 
and  gives  what  little  he  does  to  support  the  gospel, 
simply  to  get  to  heaven.  This  is  selfish  Chris- 
tianity, and  is  not  Christianity  at  all  in  any  good 
sense.  Jesus  never  held  up  such  objects  before 
men's  eyes  to  induce  them  to  be  good.  He  set 
before  us  that  all  our  seeming  sacrifices  in  fol- 
lowing him  would  enrich  us  a  hundred-fold  in 
this  life,  and  give  us  life  eternal.  And  Paul 
says:  "Godliness  is  profitable  for  all  things, 
having  promise  for  the  life  which  now  is,  and 
for  that  which  is  to  come." 

Jesus  is  making  a  new  earth.  The  greatest 
work  of  Christianity  is  to  Christianize  the  earth. 
Making  converts  is  but  a  small  part  of  this 
great  work.  The  word  civilize  has  crept  into 
our  speech,  and  leads  our  thinking  astray.  It 
is  not  a  distinctively  Christian  word,  and  leads 
us  to  think  there  is  some  great  power  some- 
where— in  the  spirit  of  human  progress,  or  in 
evolutionary  laws,  or  in  the  discovery  of  liberty 


150  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

and  modern  institutions,  or  in  something  else 
apart  from  Christianity — which  is  improving  the 
world.  But  the  fact  is,  this  onward  and  up- 
ward movement  of  Christian  humanity,  and  the 
betterment  of  the  earthly  conditions  of  the  race, 
is  traceable  to  the  power  of  Christianity.  It  is 
true  this  power  is  stored  in  and  exercised 
through  various  institutions  and  agencies;  but 
since  it  comes  from  Christianity  originally,  it  is 
more  nearly  just  to  speak  of  the  Christianization 
than  of  the  civilization  of  the  world. 

The  difference  between  the  pagan  and  the 
Christian  worlds  is  very  largely  a  matter  of  dif- 
ference in  institutions.  In  the  Christian  com- 
munity we  have  many  institutions  which  exert 
a  steady  and  powerful  influence  for  good  over 
every  member  of  society  who  comes  in  their 
reach;  while  the  Strongholds  of  Satan,  which 
enthrall  men  in  the  grip  of  evil,  are  reduced  to 
the  minimum.  In  the  pagan  community  the 
reverse  of  this  is  true.  The  institutions  are 
Satanic,  and  humanity  is  so  held  in  their  grip 
of  evil  that  it  is  impossible  for  men  to  be  or  do 
good.  Institutions  through  which  righteousness 
and  light,  love  and  life,  are  made  powerful  to 
bless  mankind,  are  either  perverted  or  elimi- 
nated. The  State,  the  family,  the  Church,  the 
school,  are  perverted  to  the  enforcement  of  su- 
perstition, oppression,  slavery,  unspeakable  cm- 


THE  WORK  AND  ITS  AfAGNiruoE.       151 

elty,  and  infinite  outrage.  Christianity  is  de- 
voted to  transform  all  this,  and  set  captive 
humanity  free,  and  empower  us  to  reach'  the 
circumference  of  our  highest  and  widest  possi- 
bilities in  the  great  purposes  of  our  Heavenly 
Father.  To  show  that  human  degradation  is 
largely  a  matter  of  human  helplessness  in  the 
thralldom  of  evil  strongholds,  think  of  the  re- 
sults that  would  follow  from  transferring  five 
hundred  infants  from  paganism  to  the  life  of 
the  children  of  truly  Christian  parents  here  in 
America ;  or  of  changing  five  hundred  American 
infants  of  Christian  ancestry  to  the  homes,  sur- 
roundings, and  life  of  children  in  China,  Africa, 
or  India. 

But  are  they  responsible  for  being  born  in 
this  condition,  and  must  .they  be  lost  if  we  do 
not  get  them  converted?  That  is  not  the  point 
at  all.  The  work  of  Jesus  is  to  bring  about 
different  conditions  for  unborn  generations  to 
come  forth  into,  just  as  he  has  already  done  for 
a  large  part  of  the  race.  "  For  this  purpose  the 
Son  of  God  was  manifested,  that  he  might  de- 
stroy the  works  of  the  devil."  The  Father  hath 
given  to  the  Son  "the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth  for  a  possession."  And  Jesus,  through 
the  Holy  Spirit,  is  in  the  world  "to  preach 
good  tidings  unto  the  meek,  to  bind  up  the 
broken-hearted,  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  cap- 


152  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

lives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them 
that  are  bound ;  to  proclaim  the  acceptable  year 
of  the  Lord,  and  the  day  of  vengeance  of  our 
God;  to  comfort  all  that  mourn;  to  appoint 
unto  them  that  mourn  in  Zion,  to  give  unto 
them  beauty  for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourn- 
ing, the  garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of 
heaviness."  This  is  the  character  of  the  work 
our  blessed  Redeemer  is  to  do  now  for  benighted 
and  suffering  humanity  everywhere.  This  is 
the  great  work  he  is  doing  for  us*;  and  this  is 
the  work  of  immediate  good  he  asks  us  to  en- 
list our  prayers,  our  means,  and  our  very  selves 
with  him  to  accomplish  for  the  race.  He  leads 
a  spiritual  emancipating  movement  of  the  John 
Brown  order.  Every  emancipated  soul  becomes 
an  enlisted  soldier,  under  command  of  the 
Emancipator,  to  extend  the  blessed  work  till  all 
are  free. 

So  much  for  the  character  of  missionary 
work.  Let  this  chapter  be  concluded  with  a 
few  words  concerning  the  magnitude  of  the  work 
of  Christianizing  the  pagan  world.  We  hear 
Christians  sometimes  complain  that  we  have 
been  giving  so  much,  and  for  so  long  a  time, 
that  the  heathen  ought  to  be  pretty  well  evan- 
gelized by  this  time,  and  wondering  if  the  time 
is  not  soon  to  come  when  the  missionary  ex- 
pense will  cease. 


THE  \VORK  AND  ITS  MAGNITUDE.       153 

Let  us  compare  a  little.  India  and  Malaysia 
together  have  three  hundred  and  twenty-five 
millions  of  people.  The  United  States  has  sixty- 
five  millions.  In  1890  there  were  in  all  India 
and  Malaysia  two  thousand  one  hundred  and  ten 
Protestant  missionaries  of  all  denominations 
(army  chaplains  not  included).  In  the  United 
States,  in  1886,  there  were  eighty-three  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  fifty-four  Protestant 
ministers.  And  yet  my  readers  know  how  im- 
perfectly our  own  sixty-five  millions  are  evan- 
gelized under  the  favorable  circumstances  of 
our  Christian  civilization.  India,  too,  is  the 
most  thoroughly  missionaried  of  any  great 
pagan  field  on  earth,  except  Japan. 

Go  a  little  farther.  The  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  in,  1891,  spent  for  ministerial  sup- 
port in  the  United  States,  in  round  numbers, 
ten  millions  of  dollars,  and  appropriated  for  all 
India  and  Malaysia  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  thousand  dollars.  Our  Church  is  the 
leading  missionary  Church,  and  if  we  have  any 
favored  field,  it  is  the  one  of  which  I  write ;  so 
that  India  is  fully  as  well  treated  at  the  hands 
of  our  Church  as  all  heathenism  is  at  the  hands 
of  all  Protestantism.  And  you  will  find  by  a 
little  figuring  that,  if  we  were  doing  as  well  by 
India  as  we  are  by  our  own  country,  we  would 
be  doing  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  times 


154  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

as  mucn  as  we  are.  And  if  Methodism  is  rep- 
resentative, this  is  true  of  the  relation  of  all 
Protestantism  to  all  unevangelized  humanity. 

The  calculation  is  simple.  There  are  five 
times  as  many  people  in  our  Indian  field  as 
at  home,  and  we  spend  seventy-five  times  as 
much  for  ministerial  support  at  home  as  we 
do  in  India;  and  the  product  is  three  hundred 
and  seventy-five.  Now,  I  am  not  advocating 
that  this  ought  not  to  be  as  it  is ;  I  simply  use 
it  to  show  the  magnitude  of  the  work  of  evan- 
gelism. With  all  we  are  doing  at  home,  how 
partially  the  work  is  done  in  the  midst  of  our 
favorable  conditions !  how  vast  tfye  work  in 
heathen  conditions,  where  all  human  forces  and 
agencies  are  so  insignificant  in  comparison! 
We  are  hearing  a  shout  through  all  the  Church 
over  what  we  call  the  "  great  harvest  in  India ;" 
and  yet  should  this  harvest  continue  at  its 
present  rate,  it  will  take  two  hundred  years  to 
bring  India  to  Christ.  And  it  is  the  most 
hopeful  missionary  field  on  earth,  aside  from 
Japan.  These  facts  ought  not  to  discourage 
any  one,  in  face  of  our  Savior's  commission 
and  promise;  but  they  should  teach  us  to 
strengthen  our  faith  and  patience,  and  inspire  us 
to  put  forth  efforts  commensurate  with  the  de- 
mands for  success  in  the  work.  The  one  great 
passion  of  the  Christian's  life  should  be,  not  to 


THE  WORK  AND  ITS  MAGNITUDE.       155 

see  how  much  he  can  spend  on  himself  and  his 
loved  ones,  and  how  little  he  can  give  to  bring 
the  race  under  the  power  of  Christ,  but  to  studi- 
ously and  prayerfully  consecrate  himself  and  his 
children  to  Jesus  Christ  to  promote  the  only 
truly  great  work;  viz.,  the  world's  salvation. 


Chapter  II. 
PERVERSIONS  OF  PAGANISM. 

IF  one  be  ever  so  doubtful  of  the  existence  of 
a.  personal  Satanic  intelligence,  he  must  be 
convinced  of  it,  if  fair-minded,  by  the  subtle 
cunning,  serpentine  wisdom,  and  far-sighted 
adaptation  of  pagan  systems  to  withstand  the 
truth,  the  spirit,  and  even  the  blessings  of  the 
Christian  religion. 

I  wish  in  this  and  following  chapters  to  speak 
of  the  perversions  of  paganism  which  enable 
it  to  resist  Christianity  and  prevent  the  rapid 
conversion  of  the  world.  I  shall  speak  of  those 
perversions  which  I  observed  in  India,  but 
which,  in  different  forms  perhaps,  prevail  every- 
where in  pagan  systems. 

The  first  difficulty  is  the  extreme  poverty  of 
the  people.  Not  that  the  country  is  poor  in 
natural  resources.  It  is  by  no  means  one  of  the 
richest  countries  in  the  world,  but  it  could  be 
made  to  do  much  better  for  the  people  than  it 
does.  In  territorial  extent,  India  alone  is  more 
than  one-half  as  large  as  the  United  States,  and 
by  irrigation  can  be  made  to  produce  abun- 
dantly in  most  parts — in  many  localities,  two 
156 


'PERVERSIONS  OF  PAGANISM.  157 

crops  annually.  It  has  some  rich  gold  and 
silver  mines,  and  many  precious  stones  are  too 
common  to  have  intrinsic  value  in  the  markets 
of  the  country.  India  has  yielded  her  wealth  to 
enrich  other  nations  throughout  the  centuries, 
while  her  own  people  have  groveled  and  suf- 
fered in  the  deepest  poverty.  It  is  the  effect  of 
paganism  to  destroy  enterprise. 

The  principle,  "Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall 
into  the  ground  and  die  it  abideth  alone,  but  if 
it  die  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit,"  applies  to 
wealth  as  well  as  to  souls.  This  great  principle 
the  people  of  India  have  never  learned.  Hoard- 
ing is  the  curse  of  India,  and  has  always  been. 
It  collects  and  holds  the  treasures  of  exchange, 
and  thus  robs  the  industries  and  commerce  of 
sinews  and  wings,  and  invites  the  invasion  of 
civilized  and  powerful  robbers  from  without. 
Treasure  is  hoarded  in  the  form  of  jewelry. 
One  never  sees  gold  in  circulation  in  India,  be- 
cause the  rich  natives  buy  it,  and  mold  it  into 
jewelry,  and  thus  keep  their  wealth  locked  up. 
So  everywhere  you  travel  you  are  in  the  midst 
of  hidden  wealth  that  you  do  not  dream  exists, 
and  oppressed  all  the  time  with  sights  of  the 
abject  poverty  of  the  people.  I  have  frequently 
heard  it  said  that  the  average  income  of  labor- 
ing people  in  India  is  about  nine  dollars  a  year. 
Bishop  Thoburn  makes  the  liberal  estimate  of 


158  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

twenty-five  dollars  a  year.  This  is  an  average. 
Many  get  much  less.  On  this  a  man  supports 
his  family,  and  often  an  unemployed  relative 
and  his  family.  The,  best  of  them  have  but 
one  meal  and  a  little  lunch  a  day,  and  many 
have  but  one  scant  meal  a  day  all  through  life. 
There  are  one  hundred  millions  of  people  who 
have  no  other  home  or  shelter  than  that  afforded 
by  some  spreading  tree.  "The  streets  and  the 
lanes"  of  the  city,  and  "the  byways  and 
hedges"  of  the  country,  afford  dwelling-places 
for  one-third  the  people,  as  they  did  at  the  time 
our  Lord  uttered  the  Parable  of  the  Great  Sup- 
per. One  can  call  together  a  congregation  of 
five  hundred  beggars  any  day  in  almost  any  of 
the  large  cities  of  India,  with  the  promise  of  a 
half-cent  or  some  trifling  bit  of  food. 

Now,  this  poverty  is  a  seemingly  insurmount- 
able obstacle  to  gospel  progress  in  India.  The 
one  opening  which  offers  young  men  a  chance 
is  the  Government  service.  Appointments  to 
vacancies  in  Government  clerkships  are  made 
from  among  those  who  make  the  best  record  in 
college.  The  scramble  is  intense.  Many  of 
these  young  men  were  married  early,  and  have 
families.  They  work  so  hard  and  eat  so  little 
that  fainting  and  sickness  are  not  uncommon  in 
the  halls  of  learning,  and  insanity  and  death 
sometimes  result. 


PERVERSIONS  OF  PAGANISM.  159 

Mr.  Wishard,  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  representative  from  the  colleges  of 
America  and  Europe  to  the  colleges  of  the  Ori- 
ent, told  the  writer,  in  Calcutta,  that  the  deep 
poverty  of  the  students,  their  fear  of  giving 
offense  to  natives  having  influence  with  Gov- 
ernment, and  the  pre-occupation  of  their  stu- 
dent-struggle after  a  clerkship  that  would  give 
bread— or,  rather,  rice  and  curry — to  their  fam- 
ilies, made  it  almost  impossible  for  him  to  get 
near  them,  and  made  them  deaf  to  the  gospel. 
He  said  that  when  he  tried  to  get  them  to  talk 
of  their  own  religion,  they  frankly  admitted 
they  knew  nothing  of  it,  because  they  have  no 
time  to  investigate  it.  Nobody,  no  mission,  no 
message,  is  interesting  to  them,  unless  it  helps 
them  to  get  food  immediately.  Starvation  has 
immediate  terrors;  and  one  can  see  from  this 
how  the  many-sided  degradation  of  poverty 
shackles  human  souls,  and  prevents  that  free- 
dom of  action  necessary  to  accept  the  gospel 
offers.  The  force  of  this  difficulty  which  the 
gospel  meets,  will  appear  as  it  is  remembered 
in  connection  with  other  hindrances  yet  to  be 
spoken  of. 

Paganism  perverts— or,  rather,  destroys — 
mankind  physically.  It  is  said  there  are  no 
sound  bodies  among  pagans.  The  poverty  of 
diet,  the  lack  of  salt — because  of  its  expensive- 


160  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

ness,  owing  to  taxation  and  Government  mo- 
nopoly— and  the  filth  of  person  and  surround- 
ings, make  skin-diseases  prevalent ;  itch,  scurvy, 
rashes,  etc.,  affect  all,  more  or  less.  The  awful 
diseases  of  unbridled  licentiousness  spread  and 
burn  among  all  classes,  and  poison  the  whole 
current  of  blood  and  life  in  their  descent  to  pos- 
terity. Scrofula,  leprosy,  and  other  dreadful 
blood-diseases,  are  quite  common.  The  latter 
is  not  contagious,  nor  is  it  even  infectious,  ex- 
cept in  the  case  of  persons  having  moist  palms 
or  feet,  or  except  it  be  contracted  through  the 
mucous  membrane  of  the  mouth  or  nose.  The 
pus  must  have  contact  with  a  susceptible  skin, 
and  warmth  and  moisture  are  said  to  render  the 
skin  susceptible.  But  it  is.  hereditary ;  and  in 
case  it  does  not  appear  in  a  leper's  children,  as 
it  sometimes  does  not,  it  is  certain  to  appear  in 
the  grandchildren.  In  pagan  lands  they  neither 
separate  the  lepers  from  the  masses  nor  segre- 
gate the  sexes.  Leprosy  could  be  exterminated 
entirely  if  this  were  universally  done. 

Besides  all  these  skin  and  blood  diseases, 
heathen  people  are  the  easy  victims  of  all  the 
sicknesses  that  flesh  is  heir  to.  They  are  ut- 
terly ignorant  of  anatomy  and  the  simplest  facts 
of  hygiene.  It  is  commonly  accepted  in  South 
India,  among  the  ignorant  masses,  that  the 
stomach  is  a  tortoise,  and  hunger  is  his  squirm- 


PERVERSIONS  OF  PAGANISM.  161 

ing.  The  natives  will  sometimes  justify  the 
theft  of  food,  on  the  ground  that  the  tortoise  in- 
side compelled  them  to  take  it.  The  heart,  to 
them,  is  a  little  whirling  wheel;  and  in  the 
head  a  bird  is  supposed  to  be  imprisoned. 
This  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  pagan's  science  of 
human  anatomy.  He  is  equally  ignorant  of 
the  relation  between  health  and  the  environ- 
ments with  which  he  corresponds.  He  knows 
no  relation  between  food  and  strength,  or  food 
and  sickness.  If  he  eats  half  a  peck  of  green 
mangoes — a  luscious  India  fruit — and  then  has 
the  cholera-morbus,  it  does  not  occur  to  him 
that  the  fruit  is  the  cause  of  his  misery.  When 
he  is  surrounded  by  festering  filth,  whose  stench 
would  nauseate  a  glue-maker,  and  the  cholera 
breaks  out  in  his  home  or  neighborhood,  he 
does  not  think  to  ascribe  it  to  his  unsanitary 
surroundings.  He  is  equally  ignorant  of  the 
laws  of  contagion  and  infection.  One  sees 
smallpox  victims,  when  the  pock  is  in  full 
bloom,  mingling  freely  with  the  crowds  in  the 
bazars,  and  no  one  seems  to  avoid  them.  I 
have  seen  children  in  Sunday-school  covered 
with  smallpox  scabs.  No  one  thinks  of  leaving 
his  residence,  or  taking  any  sort  of  sensible 
precautions,  when  his  home  is  surrounded  by 
cholera  patients.  Of  course  this  condition  is 
somewhat  modified  in  the  larger  cities  of  India, 


1 62  Tiro  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

where  thousands  of  English  live,  and  enforce 
such  sanitary  measures  as  are  possible;  but  of 
the  great  masses  of  raw  heathen,  the  statements 
do  not  exaggerate  the  facts. 

Disease  to  them,  along  with  almost  everything 
else,  is  sent  by  the  gods.  When  cholera  breaks 
out  in  a  neighborhood,  they  put  a  yellow  flag 
about  a  foot  square  over  the  front  door,  and 
daub  the  front  of  the  house  with  saffron.  This 
is  to  charm  away  the  god  of  the  disease.  They 
send  for  the  priest,  he  being  their  physician. 
He  daubs  the  sufferer's  body  with  some  filthy 
stuff — the  filthier,  the  holier — ties  a  yellow 
string  about  his  waist,  and  says  some  mun- 
thrnms  (prayers).  That  is  the  treatment  for  the 
individual  victim.  To  prevent  the  rest  of  the 
family  from  taking  the  disease,  he  brings  a 
sacred  cow,  gaudily  trapped  with  decorated 
leather  hangings  and  bells,  with  horns  painted, 
and  garlands  of  flowers  about  the  head  and 
neck,  and,  with  smoking  censer  in  hand,  drives 
her  through  the  rooms  of  the  house,'  all  the 
time  muttering  prayers  to  the  god  or  goddess 
which  is  supposed  to  be  the  author  of  the 
affliction.  But  the  filth  festers,  germs  multi- 
ply, the  disease  spreads,  and  the  thousands 
suffer  and  die  in  all  their  helplessness  and 
night.  That  there  are  no  healthy  heathen  is 
generally  true,  with  exceptions  now  and  then,  of 


PERVERSIONS  OF  PAGANISM.  163 

course.     What    a    wonderful    field    awaits    the 
medical  missionary! 

I  come  now  to  the  mental  perversion  of 
paganism.  The  thought-systems  of  pagan  peo- 
ples are  as  false  as  their  religion.  The  devil 
has  sciences  in  the  world.  Astrology,  alchemy 
in  its  modern  form,  the  "  black  art " — these 
are  Satanic  sciences.  The  pagans  are,  in  all 
things,  "too  religious."  The  fundamental  order 
of  things  with  them  is  false  and  illogical,  and 
has  been  through  the  thousands  of  years  of 
their  history.  Through  all  the  ages  they  have 
exercised  themselves  to  believe  lies  and  con- 
tradictions, and  from  his  earliest  efforts  the 
pagan  child  is  trained  to  thus  pervert  his  mind. 
And  these  perversions  are  religiously  sacred. 
It  is  true  they  are  under  "  strong  delusion  that 
they  should  believe  a  lie."  Such  havoc  has 
paganism  wrought  that  it  seems  impossible  for 
them  to  think  the  thoughts  of  Christianity.  It 
is  the  common  complaint  of  teachers  in  schools 
and  colleges  that  the  native  mind  is  almost  in- 
capable of  logical  reasoning.  The  students  are 
proficient  in  studies  in  which  the  memory  is 
exercised,  but  very  deficient  in  mathematics 
and  other  studies  that  require  analytical  thought. 
The  thinking  habits  of  the  pagan  mind  are 
such  as  to  exclude  utterly  the  right  thinking 
necessary  to  salvation  by  faith.  Of  course  this 


1 64  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

m 
is  true  in  the  case  of  sinners  everywhere;  but 

the  mental  perversion  is  much  deeper  and 
stronger  in  a  pagan  sinner  than  in  a  Christian 
sinner.  The  miracle  of  conversion  must  begin 
farther  back,  and  the  transformation  is  im- 
mensely greater.  This  mental  perversion  is  a 
barrier  in  the  missionary's  way  so  discouraging 
that  it  can  be  surmounted  and  overcome  only  by 
a  faith  inspired  and  sustained  by  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

Their  ideas  of  music  are  so  different  from 
ours  that  we  can  not  melt  them  with  the  power 
of  our  songs.  They  would  be  amazed  at  the 
strangeness  of  the  noise.  You  will  see  this 
better  from  a  little  incident  that  occurred 
during  our  first  year  in  Madras.  I  had  opened 
a  large  high-caste  boys'  school,  and  had  a 
Christian  teacher  at  the  head  of  it.  I  was  very 
anxious  for  him  to  have  the  children  learn  to 
sing.  He  spoke  English  quite  well,  and,  after 
I  had  repeatedly  urged  him  to  have  them  sing, 
I  asked  him  one  day  why  he  did  not  obey  me. 
He  said,  with  evident  hesitation  and  embarrass- 
ment: "  Sahib,  I  can't  bray  like  an  English- 
man." This  was  his  idea  of  our  singing.  It 
would  have  about  as  much  of  a  religious  influ- 
ence over  them  as  the  braying  of  donkeys. 
They  have  a  musical  system  of  their  own,  and 
our  Christian  hymns  set  to  these  lyrics  are  now 


PERVERSIONS  OF  PAGANISM.  165 

being  used  with  great  profit  in  North  India. 
But  it  was  not  till  within  the  last  two  years 
that  the  difficult  task  of  reducing  their  tunes 
to  the  musical  scale  was  accomplished ;  and 
it  was  thus  made  possible  for  our  mission- 
aries to  master  them.  This  was  done  by  one 
of  our  woman  missionaries  in  North  India. 
But  this  book  can  be  used  only  where  one 
of  the  sixty  different  languages  of  India  is 
spoken. 

On  the  line  of  art  in  the  forms  of  painting 
and  sculpture,  the  same  depravity  of  taste  is 
seen.  A  landscape  painting  has  no  meaning  to 
a  pagan.  His  pictures  and  sculptures  are  all 
of  idolatry  and  gross  obscenity.  He  can  appre- 
ciate no  other  sort.  A  lady  friend  of  ours  sent 
us  a  silken  wall-banner,  with  a  picture  of  the 
Falls  of  Minnehaha  beautifully  painted  upon  it. 
An  Eurasian  woman  asked  what  it  represented. 
When  asked  what  it  looked  like  to  her,  she 
answered,  "  The  picture  of  an  organ-stool." 
This  woman  was  far  advanced  toward  English 
thought  and  taste.  She  was  part  English  stock, 
was  a  devout  and  joyful  Christian,  lived  in 
English  style,  and  associated  with  English  and 
Eurasian  people.  She  had  always  lived  in  flat 
Madras,  six  feet  below  the  sea-level,  and  had  no 
idea  what  a  waterfall  is  like,  and  no  artistic 
imagination  to  fancy  one.  This  barrenness  of 


1 66  Tiro  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

• 

mind  and  heart,  and  this  awful  perversion  of 
faculty,  seems  like  a  desert  waste  for  gospel 
seed;  but  with  the  showers  of  grace  from  the 
ever-present  Holy  Spirit,  even  this  seeming  bar- 
renness is  changed  to  "  good  ground." 


Chapter  III. 
PERVERSION  OF  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

OATAN'S  skill  and  cunning  is  nowhere  more 
O  clearly  seen  among  pagan  peoples  than  in 
the  perversion  of  what  may  be  called  religious 
ideas. 

With  them,  our  religion  is  sin,  and  what  we 
call  sin  is  religion.  For  instance,  the  newly 
arrived  missionary  goes  into  the  bazars  to  preach 
in  the  open  air  to  such  a  company  as  can  be 
called  together.  He  goes,  conscious  that  he  is  of 
a  superior  race.  He  remembers  he  came  from 
a  people  of  cleanly  habits,  of  decent  dress,  of 
physical  comfort,  of  general  culture,  of  free  in- 
stitutions, of  the  true  religion,  while  the  people 
to  whom  he  has  come  have  none  of  these  things, 
but  the  reverse  of  most  of  them.  He  can  not 
help  but  be  conscious  of  his  superiority.  The 
very  fact  that  he  is  a  missionary  to  them  is  the 
assumption  that  he  is  on  a  higher  plane,  and 
has  come  to  help  them  up.  But  he  has  also 
the  spirit  of  humility,  and  fears  that  the  people 
to  whom  he  has  come  will  think  he  thinks  he  is 
better  than  they,  and  so  will  not  come  near 
enough  to  him  to  be  helped. 

167 


1 68  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA, 

But  his  thinking  is  wide  of  the  fact.  He 
has  come  into  an  atmosphere  of  intense  spirit- 
ual pride.  They  do  not  think  he  is  better  than 
they,  nor  superior.  In  fact,  if  a  strict  Brahman 
were  eating  in  an  inner  apartment  of  his  house 
with  the  door  locked,  and  it  came  to  his  knowl- 
edge that  the  missionary's  shadow  had  fallen 
across  his  outside  doorstep,  he  would  throw 
away  the  remainder  of  his  food  lest  he  should 
suffer  contamination  by  the  out-caste's  pres- 
ence. 

The  writer  was"  sitting  in  a  compartment  of 
an  English  railway  corriage,  with  some  other 
missionaries,  one  day,  on  our  way  to  Conference. 
A  high-caste  native  gentleman  came  in  with  us, 
and  sat  just  opposite  me.  He  had  some  small, 
round,  brass  vessels,  one  upon  another,  in  which 
he  carried  different  articles  of  food  that  had 
been  religiously  prepared,  and  was  safely  pro- 
tected from  all  contamination.  With  these  lit- 
tle vessels  he  had  a  few  oranges  and  bananas, 
which,  not  being  so  susceptible  of  contamina- 
tion, were  carried  without  cover.  I  was  describ- 
ing to  a  brother  missionary  a  variety  of  orange 
that  he  had  not  seen,  and  pointed  to  the  caste 
man's  vessels  in  describing  the  size.  The  man 
threw  up  his  hands,  and  made  a  furious  demon- 
stration. I  had  not  touched  his  vessel,  and  did 
not  understand  his  excitement ;  and  stupidly 


PERVERSION  OF  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS.       169 

picked  up  one  of  his  oranges  as  an  object  of 
comparison.  At  this  he  made  a  wilder  demon- 
stration than  before,  showed  great  anger;  and 
on  my  dropping  the  orange,  jerked  it  out  of  the 
window,  parted  his  little  chatties  (brass  vessels), 
took  the  one  containing  water,  and  poured  from 
it  on  his  hand  to  wash  away  the  contamina- 
tion of  having  touched  the  same  orange  I 
had.  I  felt  in  my  soul  that  the  man  was  not 
complimentary,  to  say  the  least.  I  tell  this 
little  incident  to  show  the  intense  spirit  of 
division  and  the  spiritual  pride  of  the  caste 
people. 

One  can  see  from  it  how  an  audience  in  India 
would  receive  the  primary  truths  of  Christian- 
ity— "And  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations 
of  men;"  "We  are  all  created  by  one  God,  who 
is  our  Father;  and  we  are  all  equal  and  breth- 
ren in  his  sight."  These  statements  are  in 
direct  contradiction  to  the  primary  principles  of 
their  religion.  With  them,  men  are  created  in 
distinct  strata ;  and  there  can  be  no  crossing  the 
lines  by  those  who  were  born  in  one  caste  into 
another  caste,  either  above  or  below  him.  A 
man  can  become  an  out-caste  very  easily,  but 
he  can  not  change  castes.  There  is  no  inter- 
marriage or  other  social  intercourse  between 
the  castes.  There  is  commercial  intercourse 
among  all  castes,  and  religious  intercourse  be- 


170  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

tween  the  Brahman  and  all  other  castes;  for 
the  Brahman  demands  contributions,  and  hom- 
age of  other  sorts,  from  all  other  classes.  Upon 
this  caste-principle  is  based  the  exceptional 
privileges  of  the  Brahmans — who  are  deified  by 
it — and  the  honors  and  privileges  of  all  other 
higher  classes.  Upon  the  preservation  of  their 
caste  is  based  their  religious  hopes  and  eternal 
welfare.  So  the  green  missionary,  who,  in  his 
efforts  to  make  them  realize  his  great  love  for 
them,  proclaims  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the 
equality  and  brotherhood  of  man,  will  be  sur- 
prised at  the  storm  of  rage  he  may  awaken,  if 
he  makes  his  meaning  felt;  for  with  them  it  is 
easy  to  go  down,  but  impossible  to  go  up.  The 
struggle  all  the  time  is  to  retain  the  level  one  is 
born  in.  So,  to  them,  our  great  principle  of 
human  equality  simply  brings  all  classes  down 
to  the  level  of  the  pariah  (that  is,  the  soulless 
out-caste) ;  for  it  is  impossible  to  bring  him  up. 
Now,  the  Brahmans  and  other  high-castes  rule 
the  mob.  They  play  at  will  upon  their  supersti- 
tions and  fears,  and  can  infuriate  them  even  to 
violence  against  their  best  friends  and  inter- 
ests. 

Take  another  example.  Let  the  missionary 
preach,  as  Jesus  did,  that  "  not  that  which  goeth 
into  the  mouth  defileth  a  man;  but  that  which 
cometh  out  of  the  mouth,  this  defileth  a  man." 


PERVERSION  OF  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS.       171 

His  doctrine  appears  utterly  diabolical  to  them  ; 
for  they  hold  as  primary  that  the  reverse  of  this 
is  true.  And  so  intense  is  their  belief  in  the 
corruption  of  unsanctified  or  religiously  con- 
taminated food,  that  they  will  die  of  starvation 
rather  than  take  the  chances  of  ignorance  as  to 
the  character  of  what  they  eat. 

Major  Marshall — who  has  had  a  lifetime 
service  in  the  British  army  in  India,  and  who  is 
a  devout  member  of  our  English  Church  in 
Madras — told  the  writer,  that,  in  times  of 
famine  —  which  occur  about  once  in  seven 
years,  when  the  thousands  are  starving  in  every 
city — he  had  tried  to  give  food  to  starving  natives. 
Seeing  a  starving  man  running  along  the  road, 
falling  now  and  then,  and  lying  till  his  strength 
enabled  him  to  get  up  and  go  forward,  he  said 
he  had  placed  milk  and  boiled  eggs  and  white 
bread  where  this  starving  man  would  see  it,  but 
would  not  know  who  had  placed  it ;  then  he  had 
withdrawn  to  where  he  could  see  and  not  be 
seen,  and  had  watched  the  famishing  man  come 
up,  look  longingly  at  the  food,  and  go  on  to 
starve  without  touching  it. 

And  so,  in  many  things,  their  ideas  of  sin 
are  reversed.  What  we  believe  and  do  relig- 
iously, they  avoid  as  sin;  and  what  we  call  sin 
in  principle  and  practice,  that  they  do  relig- 
iously. Maidens  consecrate  themselves  to  lives 


172  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

of  shame  as  a  religious  service ;  and  many  such 
anomalies  occur.  So  we  must  begin  away  back 
with  primary  ideas  in  our  religious  training;  for 
our  terms  do  not  convey  to  them  the  meaning 
we  intended. 


Chapter  IV. 
WOMEN  IN  PAGANISM. 

OF  woman  in  paganism  it  may  be  said  in 
general  that  she  does  much  of  the  heav- 
iest and  filthiest  work.  She  builds  roads,  car- 
ries the  hod,  and  does  this  grade  of  manual 
labor  generally.  The  men  do  the  sewing — when 
any  is  done — and  much  of  the  cleaner  and 
lighter  kinds  of  work.  But  this  is  by  no  means 
the  deepest  shadow  of  the  picture  of  woman's 
condition.  In  paganism  the  beastly,  brutal 
qualities  and  tendencies  of  men  are  developed, 
and  the  restraining,  refining,  and  spiritual  qual- 
ities are  suppressed  until  they  seem  entirely 
lacking.  Gratitude,  mercy,  pity,  sympathy,  and 
such  graces,  are  strikingly  exceptional,  while 
"the  works  of  the  flesh"  vaunt  themselves  with 
fiendish  audacity.  From  this  almost  any  one 
can  see  the  character  and  spirit  of  the  average 
lord  of  the  helpless  woman. 

But  now  let  us  see  this  helpless  woman  from 
her  pagan  lord's  standpoint.  She  is  not  a  spirit- 
ual being — his  equal  in  everything  but  mere 
animal  force ;  his  superior  in  many  of  the  finer 
qualities  of  spiritual  being — as  she  is  in  the 

173 


174  Two  y^ARs  IN  INDIA. 

estimation  of  every  refined  Christian  man. 
Quite  the  contrary,  she  is  an  animal  creature, 
who  exists  for  the  convenience  and  service  of 
her  lord.  A  Hindu  has  a  far  higher  regard  for 
a  cow  than  for  a  woman.  When  he  is  seen 
upon  the  streets  with  his  wife — as  is  sometimes 
the  case  among  the  lower  castes — she  must  keep 
so  far  behind  him  that  no  one  would  guess  that 
she  is  in  any  way  related  to  him.  If  you 
speak  to  a  high-caste  man  of  his  wife  or  wives, 
he  is  displeased,  if  not  offended.  He  has 
learned  that  ivife,  in  the  Western  significance, 
means  partner,  and  conveys  the  idea  of  equality 
with  the  husband.  It  is  humiliating  to  him. 
When  he  speaks  of  his  wife  or  wives  he  says, 
"My  female/  or  "the  females  of  my  house." 
But  this  is  still  not  the  worst  phase  of  the 
picture. 

Did  woman  occupy  merely  the  position  of  a 
domestic  animal,  she  might  find  some  liberty 
and  advantage  in  the  indifference  and  disregard 
of  the  lords  of  creation.  Unlike  mere  animal 
creatures,  she  is  the  source  of  calamity  and  all 
sorts  of  misfortune,  throngh  her  sins,  to  her 
lord  and  other  relatives.  So  she  must  be  im- 
prisoned in  the  zenana,  the  house  of  her  hus- 
band, from  her  girlhood  to  her  grave;  because, 
by  looking  upon  other  men,  and  variously  in 
the  exercise  of  her  freedom,  she  may  sin,  and 


WOMEN  IN  PAGANISM.  175 

thus  make  her  very  shadow  prolific  in  woes  to 
all  upon  whom  it  may  fall.  It  is  not,  as  with 
us,  through  the  disobedience  of  a  first  mother — 
Eve — and  through  her  tempting  of  her  husband 
till  he  shared  in  her  guilt,  that  all  calamity 
and  death  have  come  upon  us;  but  it  is  through 
the  sins  of  the  wife,  or  woman  now  living,  that 
the  husband  and  other  relatives  must  suffer. 

Here  is  the  explanation  of  the  cruelties  per- 
petrated upon  Hindu  widows :  The  husband  was 
brought  to  his  death  by  the  sins  of  his  wife ; 
her  shadow  is  deadly ;  henceforth  she,  if  a  child, 
must  not  play  with  other  children,  lest  she 
smite  them  by  her  dread  spell;  her  head  is 
shaved ;  she  is  limited  to  one  poor  meal  a  day 
for  life;  she  is  avoided  by  all;  she  is  the  victim 
of  every  whim,  caprice,  and  brutal  passion ;  and 
the  older  she  grows,  the  more  desolate  and 
helpless  her  life  becomes.  The  lowest  estimate 
I  have  seen  of  these  wretched  women  in  India 
is  twenty  thousand  child-widows,  and  nine  mill- 
ion widows  of  all  ages.  Estimates  as  high  as 
twenty  millions  are  made.  Of  course  the  widow- 
hood is  enforced.  First,  it  is  a  Hindu  law  that 
a  widow  shall  not  re-marry,  for  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  State  to  protect  the  lives  of  male  sub- 
jects against  these  murderous  creatures;  and, 
second,  no  man  with  any  sense  about  him  is 
going  to  marry  a  woman  who  has  brought  death 


176  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

to  one  husband  already.  Marriage  is  always  a 
risky  business  where  women  have  such  deadly 
power;  but  where  a  woman  has  exercised  it 
upon  one  husband,  no  other  man  would  wish 
to  be  allowed  to  put  himself  into  such  a  death- 
trap. 

Now  think  of  the  effect  of  this  principle  as 
an  obstacle  to  gospel  work.  It  robs  woman  of 
all  moral  courage — just  the  thing  indispensable 
to  her  if  she  would  listen  to  and  obey  the  gos- 
pel in  braving  all  tradition,  institutions,  priestly 
warnings,  superstitions,  and  objections  of  rela- 
tives, in  fleeing  from  the  kingdom  of  darkness 
to  that  of  light.  From  her  earliest  perceptions 
she  has  been  taught  that  upon  her  conduct  de- 
pends the  welfare — yes,  the  very  life — of  all 
her  relatives,  especially  of  her  husband  and  of 
those  nearest  to  her.  So  thoroughly  are  girls 
schooled  in  such  teaching  that  they  fear  even 
their  own  thoughts,  they  hide  their  faces  and 
slink  away  into  their  dark  prison-rooms,  and 
spend  their  lives  the  victims  of  every  imagi- 
nable terror.  O  Christians!  what  chains  of  hell 
are  these!  We  Christians  know  that  no  people 
can  be  converted  unless  the  women  are.  A 
people  never  rises  above  the  moral  and  spirit- 
ual plane  of  its  womanhood.  Women  in  pagan- 
ism are  in  the  most  unevangelizable  position 
possible. 


WOMEN  IN  PAGANISM.  177 

The  sphere  of  Christian  woman  in  saving 
the  nations  is  as  important  as  that  of  the 
brethren.  Men  have  always  thought  they  were 
sufficient  to  the  task  of  the  world's  evangeliza- 
tion, but  they  are  not;  for  they  can  not  evan- 
gelize pagan  women.  They  may  get  companies 
of  men  together,  and  preach  Christ  to  them 
with  all  force  and  earnestness;  but  few  men 
will  be  saved  while  Satan  rules  the  wives  and 
the  homes  through  the  abominations  of  pagan- 
ism. The  Lord's  servants  and  handmaidens 
are  indispensable  to  each  other  in  the  work  of 
pulling  down  the  strongholds  of  evil,  and  build- 
ing up  the  Christian  institutions — the  family, 
the  home,  the  Church,  the  school,  the  State, 
and  the  social  circle.  Just  in  proportion  as 
woman  is  important  in  every  line  of  human  life 
and  destiny,  it  is  important  that  she  should  be 
taught  what  her  husband  and  brothers  are 
taught.  This  work  men  can  not  do,  but  women 
can.  They  are  doing  it,  by  finding  their  way  to 
pagan  woman  in  her  prison-home,  and  there 
teaching  her,  with  infinite  patience  and  persist- 
ence, the  folly  of  her  own  thinking,  and  the 
glad  message  of  life  and  deliverance  in  Christ. 
Woman's  work  must  have  all  the  departments 
that  of  men  requires,  and  some  special  branches — 
school  and  zenana  work,  literature,  orphanages, 
Bible-reading,  and  all  the  lines  required  to  make 

12 


178  T\ro  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

redeemed  woman  the  partner  and  helpmeet  of 
redeemed  man. 

How  slowly  this  work  must  progress;  and 
yet  how  surely!  The  gospel  has  found  its  way 
to  these  depths.  It  is  preached  to  those  in 
chains.  Those  sitting  in  darkness  see  its  great 
light  slowly  dawning  within  and  around  them. 
Christian  ministers  to  body,  mind,  and  spirit  are 
doing  their  patient,  hopeful  work.  Christian 
civilization,  with  its  inventions,  institutions,  and 
its  spirit  of  progressive  enterprise,  is  battering 
at  the  walls  of  the  city  of  conservatism,  whose 
citadel  is  the  tomb  of  departed  centuries.  The 
right  of  a  benighted  past  to  rule  the  earth  in 
the  enlightened  present  is  challenged,  the  battle 
joined,  and  victory  has  cast  the  balance  with 
the  armies  of  the  new  heavens  and  the  new 
earth. 


Chapter  V. 

THE  CONSERVATISM  OF  PAGANISM. 

ONE  of  the  glorious  watchwords  of  Chris- 
tianity is  "  progress."  Everything  must 
progress  or  die.  The  very  dead  earth  beneath 
our  feet  is  being  wrought  upon  by  the  forces  of 
evolution;  and  from  out  of  present  cosmos  is  to 
come  the  ultimate  "new  heaven  and  new  earth." 

With  us  evolution  is  a  universal  law,  bring- 
ing transformation  to  all  the  works  of  God,  and 
man  as  well.  With  this  idea  of  progress  we 
associate  the  idea  of  improvement.  Our  prog- 
ress must  be  in  improvement,  to  be  progress. 
Our  homes,  institutions,  methods  in  everything, 
and  our  very  selves,  must  be  better  to-day  than 
we  were  yesterday ;  must  be  better  to-morrow 
than  we  are  to-day.  We  Methodists,  who  be- 
lieve in  Christian  perfection  immediately  at- 
tained, still  believe  in  progress  on  all  lines  of 
Christian  character;  but  we  believe  in  progress 
in  perfection  to  perfection. 

The  first  perfection  is  what  God  wants  us  to 
be  and  do  to-day;  the  second  is  that  better 
being  and  doing  of  to-morrow.  And  so  we  have 
a  progressive  standard  of  perfection,  which  we 

179 


i  s  Tiro  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

hold  Christians  should  continually  and  pro- 
gressively attain — always  forgetting  the  things 
behind,  always  pressing  to  the  mark. 

Christians  who  differ  from  us  have  a  fixed 
standard  of  perfection  which  is  to  be  attained 
in  death,  according  to  Augustinian  theology;  or 
through  the  purging  of  purgatorial  fires,  accord- 
ing to  the  Romish  doctrine. 

But  all  Christians  honor  and  look  to  the 
future.  We  are  to  be  better  in  the  future  our- 
selves, and  men  and  things  of  the  future  are  to 
be  superior  to  the  present.  Perfection  is  in 
the  future,  arid  yet  to  be  attained.  We  orate 
about  "The  Coming  Man,"  "The  New  South," 
"The  World  of  the  Twentieth  Century,"  "The 
Day  of  our  Lord,"  "The  Coining  Resurrection," 
"The  New  Heavens,"  "The  New  Earth;"  and, 
if  we  be  true  Christians,  our  hearts  are  full  of 
rich  anticipations  of  joys  and  glories  yet  to  be 
experienced.  Our  "path  is  as  the  shining  light, 
that  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day." 

And  it  is  no  disrespect  to  our  ancestors  for 
us  to  do  better  than  they  did,  but  to  their  honor; 
for  did  they  not  instruct  and  inspire  us  ? 

The  dying  Methodist  preacher  voiced  the 
sentiment  of  departing  Christian  generations 
when  to  his  preacher  son  he  said  as  a  last 
message :  "  My  son,  I  have  done  what  I  could  ;  I 
pray  that  you  may  do  better  than  your  father." 


THE  CONSERVATISM  OF  PAGANISM.      181 

But  in  paganism  all  this  is  reversed.  The 
heathen  gaze  is  to  the  past.  Never  having 
heard  of  redemption  and  "  the  glory  to  be  re- 
vealed," he  still  mourns  the  departure  of  the 
perfection  to  which  the  Ancients  had  attained. 
These  Ancients  lived  among  the  shadows  of  the 
past,  beyond  the  horizon  of  history.  Who  they 
were,  no  one  pretends  to  know.  But  they  were 
all-wise  and  perfect;  and  what  they  said  and 
did,  and  all  in  institution,  method,  implement, 
and  writing,  is  perfect,  sacred,  holy ;  and  it  is 
the  grossest  sin  to  change.  The  pagan  believes 
that  what  he  has,  originated  with  the  Ancients 
of  his  race.  He  accounts  for  differences  by  be- 
lieving that  what  ether  peoples  have,  is  best  for 
them,  and  was  given  them  by  the  Ancients  of 
their  race  ;  but  what  he  has,  is  sacredly  for  him. 
His  highest  maxim  is,  "  God  forbid  that  I  should 
depart  from  the  wisdom  of  the  Ancients." 
Hence,  he  excuses  himself  from  being  mission- 
aried  in  any  sense,  and  from  trying  to  improve 
any  one  else. 

Things  as  they  are,  are  as  well  as  they  can 
be.  With  him,  perfection  on  all  lines  has  been 
attained  in  the  lustrous  ages  of  the  curtained 
past.  The  very  best  thing  he  can  do,  is  to 
imitate  and  copy  as  nearly  as  possible,  and  pre- 
serve and  hand  down  his  abominations  and 
everything  else  to  posterity. 


i8?  Tiro  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

Now,  one  can  see  how  this  thinking,  like  a 
chain  of  adamant,  holds  the  heathen  world  in 
what  it  is,  and  impedes  (it  can  not  stop)  the 
progress  of  the  gospel  and  every  civilizing  in- 
fluence. The  English  Government,  desirous  of 
developing  the  resources  of  India,  offered  to 
furnish  modern  plows  gratis  to  the  natives  who 
would  use  them.  The  native  plow,  which  the 
Ancients  gave  him  thousands  of  years  ago,  is 
an  upright  stick,  sharpened  and  bent  forward  a 
little  at  the  bottom,  about  four  inches  in  diame- 
ter, with  a  peg  in  the  top  and  back  for  a  handle 
to  be  held  in  one  hand,  and  a  crooked  beam 
fastened  in  front.  To  this  he  hitches  bullocks, 
and  with  it  scratches  the  earth.  When  sowing 
rice,  he  submerges  the  little  field  in  water  to 
the  depth  of  three  or  four  inches,  and  then 
drags  his  stick  around  in  it  till  it  is  stirred  into 
a  batter.  But  when  asked  to  exchange  this 
plow  for  the  English  plow,  he  answers  like  this : 
"The  Englishman's  plow  is  a  better  plow  than 
mine;  but  the  Ancients  gave  the  Englishman 
his  plow,  and  me  my  plow ;  so  I  shall  keep  my 
plow,  and  the  Englishman  his  plow." 

In  many  parts  of  Southern  India  they  have  a 
peculiar  method  of  drawing  water.  An  arrange- 
ment like  the  old-fashioned  booms  of  the  East- 
ern States,  and  about  as  high  as  a  telegraph 
pole,  is  set  up ;  but  it  lacks  the  weight  of  stone 


THE  CONSERVATISM  OF  PAGANISM.      183 

at  one  end  which  our  American  arrangements 
had.  Instead -of  that,  a  man  climbs  the  pole, 
and,  steadying  himself  with  a  bamboo  pole, 
walks  forward  to  sink  the  bucket,  and  back  on 
the  pole  to  raise  it  again.  A  man  stands  at  the 
well,  and  pours  the  water  into  the  trenches. 
This  is  for  irrigating  the  fields  adjacent.  Morn- 
ing and  evening,  this  poor  creature  spends  a 
couple  of  hours,  more  or  less,  walking  backward 
and  forward  in  the  burning  sun,  to  water  the 
fields.  The  English  have  tried  to  introduce 
improved  ways  of  raising  the  water;  but  the 
native  holds  to  the  old  way  with  all  the  tenacity 
inspired  by  his  superstitious  veneration. 

The  fisherman  still  puts  out  to  sea  on  the 
rude  catamaran,  made  of  three  logs  lashed 
firmly  together  by  sea-grass  ropes.  This  he 
propels  with  a  paddle,  about  six  feet  long;  and, 
without  clothing,  hat,  or  shade,  spends  the  hot 
day  in  the  boiling  sun  on  the  sea.  About  him 
is  every  sort  of  the  varied  sea-craft  of  the  En- 
glish, from  the  spledid  royal  mail  and  passenger 
steamship  to  the  fleet,  yet  strong,  pleasure  and 
fishing  sail-boat ;  and  yet  it  no  more  dawns  on 
the  native  fisherman's  mind  to  change  and  im- 
prove his  craft  than  it  does  upon  the  bluebird  to 
build  an  eagle's  nest. 

Apply  this  to  religion,  and  imagine  the  re- 
ception the  missionary  will  meet  with.  He  may 


1 84  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

be  listened  to  with  curiosity,  and  received  with 
every  mark  of  attention  and  courtesy ;  but  when 
he  seeks  to  enforce  the  claims  of  Christianity 
on  the  details  of  practice,  the  native  will  excuse 
himself  by  saying :  "  Jesus  Christ  had  the  most 
beautiful  character  known  to  the  world.  He  is 
morally  superior  to  Krishna,  or  any  other  of  our 
gods;  but  he  is  the  Christian's  God.  He  is  for 
you  to  obey  and  worship.  The  Ancients  gave 
us  our  religion,  our  institutions,  our  laws  of 
marriage,  the  family,  our  rites  and  laws  of 
purity.  God  forbid  that  we  should  depart  from 
their  wisdom!" 

The  wisdom  of  darkness  has  done  its  utmost 
to  forge  strongholds  from  which  it  is  impossible 
to  save  men ;  but  the  wisdom  of  God  is  deeper, 
his  power  greater.  These  walls  are  crumbling ; 
these  strongholds  are  being  pulled  down;  and 
the  mantle  of  heathen  darkness  is  being  lifted 
from  all  the  earth. 


Chapter  Vl. 
BENEFITS  OF  BRITISH  RULE. 

THE  rule  of  Great  Britain  over  India  was 
not  established  by  force  of  arms.  It  was 
brought  about  by  the  irresistible  logic  of  condi- 
tions, necessities,  and  events,  for  which  the  En- 
glish were  not  primarily  responsible.  Britain's 
first  foothold  in  India  was  gained  by  a  profit- 
able commercial  establishment,  having  soldiers 
enough  for  protection  only.  English  officers 
and  soldiers  came  to  be  employed  by  the  native 
rulers;  and  English  physicians,  politicians,  and 
adventurers  gained  influence  in  most  of  the 
native  courts.  So,  gradually,  the  English  be- 
came prominent  military,  political,  professional, 
and  commercial  factors  in  India;  and  when  rival 
claimants  contended  for  the  sovereignty  of  a 
State,  as  very  generally  happened,  one  party 
was  pretty  sure  to  ask  for  the  assistance  of  the 
powerful  foreigners.  This  gave  the  English 
the  opportunity  to  dictate  terms  to  those  who 
were  in  such  straits  as  to  gladly  accept  what- 
ever they  could  have  guaranteed  to  them. 
Where  force  was  used,  it  was  in  the  name  of 
some  native  claimant,  who,  on  being  established 

185 


1 86  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

by  the  help  of  the  English,  surrendered  the 
Government  into  their  hands.  Many  of  these 
native  States  became  hopelessly  indebted  to  the 
English  for  such  services,  and  being  unable  to 
meet  their  accounts,  turned  over  their  revenue 
departments  and  all  to  more  skillful  rulers. 
These  native  princes  retain  their  titles  and 
honors,  and  usually  enjoy  ample  pensions  from 
their  English  masters.  Empire  in  India  seems 
to  have  been  thrust  upon  England ;  and  now, 
finding  herself  under  the  burden  of  this  respon- 
sibility, she  knows  not  how  to  lay  it  down,  nor  to 
commit  it  to  other  hands.  England  and  India 
are  married,  and  divorce  would  be  disastrous. 
Of  course  it  is  not  meant  that  England  has 
not  used  military  power  in  enforcing  her  rule 
over  India.  She  could  not  rule  there  were  her 
authority  not  supported  by  a  large  standing 
army.  It  is  meant,  however,  that  she  did  not 
originally  gain  her  dominion  by  military  con- 
quest; but  having  established  her  sway  in  ne- 
cessitous conditions  by  the  dominating  spirit  of 
Englishmen,  and  by  their  genius  for  political 
organization,  her  rule  will  continue  until  it  is 
superseded  by  the  better  order  it  shall  bring 
forth.  There  is  an  eternal  fitness  in  English 
empire  in  India.  No  other  nation  could  do  so 
well  for  India,  nor  could  India  be  so  useful  to 
any  other  nation. 


BENEFITS  OF  BRITISH  RULE.  187 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  or  state  all  the 
benefits  of  English  rule  in  India.  We  can  only 
imagine  what  would  be  the  state  of  things  if 
India  were  left  to  herself,  or  were  governed  by 
some  other  nation.  We  know  that  English  rule 
brings  the  Western  civilization,  with  all  that 
belongs  to  it — both  the  good  and  the  bad — into 
conflict  for  supremacy  with  the  ancient  systems 
and  institutions  of  the  East.  A  representative 
Englishman  is  a  civilization  in  himself.  He 
stands  everywhere  for  all  that  is  English.  Put 
him  down  in  what  conditions  or  land  you  will, 
and,  as  far  as  he  has  the  means  and  the  power, 
he  will  express  himself  in  building  up  about 
him  the  institutions  that  have  been  wrought 
into  him  from  his  infancy.  His  dogged  tenacity 
for  whatever  is  English,  though  somewhat  try- 
ing to  those  Americans  who  think  that  all  good 
and  glory  are  within  our  National  borders,  is, 
nevertheless,  the  very  soul  of  Anglo-Saxon  dom- 
ination. By  it  they  slowly,  but  effectively,  over- 
came their  Norman  conquerors;  by  it  they 
remain  English  in  all  the  world;  and  by  it  they 
are  making  all  the  world  English.  Nothing 
has  ever  conquered  the  Anglo-Saxons  but  Chris- 
tianity; and  Christianity,  with  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  for  its  missionaries,  will  conquer  the 
world,  just  as  surely  as  the  ages  come  and  go. 

One  of  the  greatest  benefits  of  English  rule 


1 88  Tiro  YEARS  TN  INDIA. 

in  India  is,  that  it  makes  room  for  Englishmen. 
England  is  so  great  that  it  takes  an  earth  to 
give  her  people  elbow-room.  Think  of  her 
crowding  millions  of  strong-bodied  and  strong- 
souled  men  and  women ;  of  her  accumulated  bill- 
ions of  wealth;  of  the  serious,  practical,  indus- 
trious, adventurous  spirit  of  her  people;  of  the 
great  number  of  her  great  men  in  all  the  lines 
on  which  greatness  can  reveal  itself, — and  do  you 
wonder  that  her  dominion  reaches  every  quarter 
of  the  globe;  that  Englishmen  are  braving  all 
dangers,  enduring  all  hardships,  in  searching 
out  the  obscure  corners  and  hidden  treasures  of 
the  earth,  and  English  enterprise  and  capital  are 
building  railroads  and  telegraphs,  and  penetrat- 
ing the  wastes  of  barbarism  with  the  lines  of 
civilization  and  salvation  ?  It  requires,  in  round 
numbers,  three  hundred  thousand  registered 
ships  to  enable  the  English  to  transact  their 
share  of  the  world's  ocean  commerce.  It  is  a 
great  blessing  to  the  world  that  there  is  room 
for  this  pent-up  life  and  power  and  activity  to 
be  employed  to  bless  and  emancipate  mankind. 
What  wars,  what  excess,  what  ruin  this  genius 
and  force  would  work  were  there  not  room  for 
them  to  be  expended  as  they  are !  India  is 
by  far  England's  greatest  foreign  possession. 
Under  her  sway  more  than  sixteen  thousand 
miles  of  railway  have  been  built,  thirty  million 


BENEFITS  OF  BRITISH  RULE.  189 

acres  of  land  are  irrigated  from  Government 
canals,  a  foreign  commerce  amounting  annually 
to  more  than  seven  hundred  and  sixty  million 
pounds  has  been  developed,  and  a  Government 
revenue  in  excess  of  three  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  is  collected  each  year.  English  rule, 
capital,  organization,  and  leadership  make  this 
all  possible. 

India,  under  the  dominion  of  her  present 
rulers,  gets  all  her  people  can  be  induced  to  re- 
ceive of  the  benefits  of  English  Christian  civili- 
zation. She  is  being  welded  into  a  great  empire. 
Peace  and  safety  reign  throughout  her  borders. 
The  ravages  and  outlawry  of  the  Thugs  and  all 
such  tribes  and  bands  have  been  entirely  sup- 
pressed. Property  and  life  are  in  even  greater 
safety  in  most  parts  of  India  than  in  America. 
While  there  is  more  petty  thieving  and  sneaking 
crime,  daring  robberies  and  murders  are  almost 
unknown. 

Sati,  the  burning  alive  of  the  widow  on  the 
funeral  pile  of  her  husband,  the  offering  of  hu- 
man sacrifices  to  the  Ganges  River  and  under 
the  wheels  of  the  Juggernaut  car,  and  in  the 
worship  of  the  goddess  Kali,  the  religion  of  whose 
worshipers  was  to  destroy  human  life,  and  many 
other  of  the  most  shocking  cruelties  and  grosser 
superstitions  and  impositions  of  paganism,  have 
been  suppressed.  A  splendid  educational  system 


igo  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

has  been  developed.  One  boy  in  five  and  one  girl 
in  fifty  now  attend  school,  and  thousands  in  all 
the  great  centers  of  population  are  taking  regu- 
lar college  and  professional  courses.  But  of 
still  greater  significance  is  it  that  throughout 
the  empire  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  or  of  any 
other  religious  doctrine  is  under  the  protection 
of  law.  Under  English  rule  the  most  aggressive 
Protestant  Christianity  is  establishing  its  insti- 
tutions of  enlightenment,  humanity,  and  evan- 
gelism, and  sending  forth  the  heralds  of  Jesus 
to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  salvation  of  many, 
and  as  a  witness  to  all.  This  is  a  consumma- 
tion we  are  exhorted  in  God's  Word  to  pray  for, 
"tljat  the  word  of  the  Lord  may  have  free 
course  and  be  glorified ;"  and  he  who  can  read 
the  signs  of  the  times  can  see  the  hand  of  the 
Eternal  Spirit  in  all  these  movements,  bringing 
to  pass  the  prophecies  and  fulfilling  the  prom- 
ises of  universal  evangelism. 


Chapter  VII. 

HINDRANCES  FROM  CHRISTIANITY. 

IT  is  often  said  in  Christian  lands  that  infidel- 
ity has  no  missionary  agencies  nor  mission- 
ary zeal.  This  is  true  in  reference  to  the 
attitude  of  infidelity  to  evangelism  and  the 
Christian  civilization  of  the  world ;  but  it  is 
not  true  in  reference  to  the  spread  of  the 
poison  of  infidelity  itself.  Infidelity  wages  no 
war  against  the  abominations  of  heathenism. 
It  has  no  sympathy  for  the  millions  in  the 
thralldom  of  idolatry.  Its  war  is  all  against 
our  Divine  Savior  and  his  truth. 

Infidelity  never  goes  to  a  heathen  country 
where  there  are  no  Christian  missionaries.  It 
teaches  no  heathen  to  read,  builds  no  schools 
nor  colleges,  nor  orphanages  nor  hospitals.  But 
after  Christianity,  with  sacrifice  and  toil,  has 
brought  forth  a  community  of  educated  pagans, 
in  the  hope  that  the  light  of  Christ  may  reach 
them  through  the  doorway  of  this  Christian 
learning,  right  in  the  wake  of  these  years  of 
toil  and  sacrifice  conies  the  poison-current  of 
infidel  literature.  We  hear  a  good  deal  of  Vol- 
taire and  Paine  and  Bradlaugh  and  Ingersoll 

191 


i92  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

and  Huxley  and  Tyndall  in  America,  but  not 
nearly  so  much  as  in  the  Christian  college  and 
university  centers  in  pagan  lands. 

Madras,  India,  is  one  of  the  oldest  English 
Presidency  capitals  of  the  empire.  It  is  the 
missionary  headquarters  and  college  seat  for 
several  of  the  leading  denominations  of  Europe 
and  America.  There  are  between  two  thousand 
and  three  thousand  young  men  in  college  in 
Madras  every  year.  As  the  years  have  gone  by, 
these  colleges  have  raised  up  a  large  and  influ- 
ential educated  community.  Faith  has  been  de- 
stroyed in  the  old  pagan  systems ;  and  this  com- 
munity is  in  a  state  of  religious  chaos.  The 
great  hope  and  effort  of  the  missionaries  is,  that 
the  Christian  faith  may  follow  the  Christian 
learning.  But  just  at  this  point  comes  from 
the  home  of  the  missionaries — to  these  educated 
heathen  it  seems  right  from  the  bosom  of 
Christianity — great  bales  of  every  sort  of  skep- 
tical and  infidel  literature,  the  blasphemous 
denial  and  ridicule  of  Christ  and  his  work  for 
men.  And  all  this  is  done  in  the  name  of  lib- 
erty, progress,  and  advanced  learning,  skilled  to 
deceive  these  children  of  darkness,  whose  eyes 
are  only  so  much  opened  that  they  may  see  men 
as  trees  walking — see  everything  confusedly — 
minds  in  the  state  of  chaos  from  which  alone 
the  brooding  Spirit  of  God  can  bring  the  order 


HINDRANCES  FROM  CHRISTIANITY.       193 

and  power  of  faith.  What  is  true  among  the 
educated  Hindus  of  Madras  is  true  of  every  mis- 
sionary center  of  education  in  paganism.  Dur- 
ing our  pastorate  in  India,  there  was,  almost  in 
the  shadow  of  our  English  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  Vepery,  Madras,  a  distributing  center 
of  infidel  tracts  and  skeptical  and  heretical 
books.  It  was  in  charge  of  an  English  Govern- 
ment officer;  and  every  Sunday  morning,  while 
I  was  preaching  in  the  church,  he  was  distrib- 
uting, gratis,  literary  blasphemy  to  many  edu- 
cated natives. 

In  Japan,  and  every  hopeful  missionary  field, 
the  work  is  greatly  hindered  by  this  counter- 
current,  coming  from  the  very  heart  of  our 
Christian  civilization.  Gospel-work  is  greatly 
hindered,  too,  by  the  crimes  perpetrated  by 
Christian  nations  and  individuals  against  the 
helpless  heathen  peoples  of  the  world.  The 
Gentiles  have  ever  been  the  victims  of  the 
avarice  and  brutal  passions  of  the  so-called 
Christian  peoples.  The  present  age  is  no  ex- 
ception. My  space-limit  allows  me  only  to 
mention  some  of  the  stupendous  outrages  per- 
petrated by  Christian  Governments,  or  through 
the  legalized  commerce  of  Christian  nations. 

In  the  Ganges  Valley,  northwest  of  Calcutta, 
lies  the  great  wheat-belt  of  India.  Notwith- 
standing there  are  millions  in  India  itself  whose 

13 


194  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

whole  lives  are  spent  in  semi-starvation,  and 
hundreds  of  millions  elsewhere  who  are  always 
in  want  of  food,  yet,  by  the  hand  of  the  greatest 
Christian  nation  on  earth,  more  than  half  of  that 
rich  wheat-land  is  planted  in  poppies  to  pro- 
duce opium,  for  which  the  Chinese  are  com- 
pelled by  military  power  to  furnish  a  market, 
and  to  devote  their  millions  to  destruction, 
both  soul  and  body.  This  blood-curdling  crime 
is  committed  by  Christian  England,  simply  be- 
cause there  is  more  immediate  revenue  to  be 
derived  from  destroying  the  Chinese  with  opium 
than  in  raising  wheat  for  the  hungry. 

The  people  of  India  were  originally,  per- 
haps, the  most  temperate  people  on  earth.  The 
Hindu  and  Mohammedan  religions  both  forbid 
the  use  of  intoxicants.  Among  all  the  vices  of 
these  people,  they  were  comparatively  free  from 
drunkenness.  Temperance  does  not  yield  a  di- 
rect, but  it  does  an  indirect  revenue.  Intem- 
perance yields  an  immediate  revenue,  but  de- 
stroys the  very  source  of  future  revenue.  But 
immediate  revenue  must  be  had;  and  the  peo- 
ple must  .be  taught  to  drink  and  become 
9  drunken.  The  sap  of  the  palm-tree  is  very 
copious;  it  is  also  easily  rendered  intoxicating. 
It  can  be  gathered,  fermented,  and,  after  all 
taxes  are  paid,  be  sold  so  cheaply  that  a  man 
can  get  drunk  twice  for  one  cent.  When 


HINDRANCES  FROM  CHRISTIANITY.       195 

it  is  sold  so  cheaply,  of  course  the  revenue  is 
small  on  a  small  quantity,  and  hence  the  people 
must  be  taught  to  consume  large  quantities  to 
make  it  profitable.  The  method  by  which  the 
largest  revenue  could  be  secured  was  found  to 
be  that  of  selling  the  right  to  open  abkari  and 
toddy-shops,  or  drinking-places,  in  a  certain  dis- 
trict, for  from  one  to  five  years,  to  the  highest 
bidder.  The  public  auctions  of  these  privileges 
were  advertised  thoroughly,  a*nd  so  managed  as 
to  get  the  highest  possible  sum  for  the  Gov- 
ernment. Then,  these  avaricious  venders  were 
let  loose  on  the  people,  practically  without  re- 
straint, to  make  them  drunkards.  There  were 
no  restrictions  as  to  age.  The  drink  was  dis- 
tributed gratis  at  first,  until  the  people  began  to 
get  a  taste  for  it.  The  people  being  limited  to 
one  meal  a  day,  of  course  their  systems  could 
not  long  resist  the  effects  of  the  intoxicants; 
and  the  burning  appetite  was  very  soon  formed. 
Then  the  money  that  should  have  gone  for 
food  was  spent  for  drink;  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  millions  have  thus  been  hurried  to  the 
grave  to  make  revenue  for  the  Christian  Govern- 
ment. It  brought  more  revenue  to  the  Govern- 
ment to  destroy  the  people  in  drunkenness  than 
could  be  derived  from  their  productive  indus- 
tries; and  so  they  destroyed  them.  I  am  glad 
to  say  that  this  highest-bidder  system  has  been 


196  TH'O  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

changed  in  the  last  four  years,  and  its  worst 
features  toned  down;  but  not  till  after  the 
drinking  habit  had  been  thoroughly  fixed  upon 
the  people.  « 

It  was  found  exceedingly  expensive  to  per- 
mit soldiers  in  the  British  army  in  India  to  be 
married.  To  prevent  this,  camps  were  estab- 
lished in  connection  with  many  regiments  of 
the  English  army  for  kidnaped  women  and 
girls.  To  protect  the  soldiers  from  contagious 
diseases,  a  law  was  passed  by  the  British  Parlia- 
ment subjecting  all  public  women  to  inspection 
by  the  Government  surgeons.  This  legalized 
the  whole  matter,  and  the  vice  nourished  and 
the  crimes  perpetrated  under  this  act  are  simply 
horrifying.  And  when,  through  the  agitation  of 
missionaries  and  Christian  women  in  England, 
this  hellish  law  was  repealed,  many  leading  offi- 
cials, and  even  some  bishops  of  the  Church  of 
England,  made  a  great  outcry  against  what  they 
called  "  goody-goody  sentiment."  How  long 
will  it  take  missionary  sacrifice  and  fidelity  to 
overcome  the  influence  against  evangelism 
which  the  history  of  this  crime  will  exert? 

I  need  not  speak  of  the  rum-traffic  from 
Christian  America  by  which  the  people  of  Africa 
are  being  destroyed.  Nor  need  I  refer  to  the 
recent  commercial  circular  from  the  State  De- 
partment of  our  Nation  to  other  nations  seeking 


HINDRANCES  FROM  CHRISTIANITY.       197 

to  open  markets  for  American  distilled  and  malt 
liquors.  The  heartless  and  cruel  avarice  of 
Christian  nations  still  seeks  wealth  in  taking 
advantage  of  the  weak  and  ignorant  Heathen 
people,  and  does  not  scruple  to  destroy  them 
and  spread  ruin  and  woe  among  them,  any  more 
than  when  the  Spaniards  robbed,  and  murdered, 
and  enslaved  the  defenseless  people  of  the  West 
Indies  in  the  same  pursuit.  The  difference  is 
in  form,  and  not  in  fact.  The  method  is  not  so 
brutal,  but  the  nations  still  enrich  themselves 
by  sacrificing  the  rights,  happiness,  and  lives  of 
heathen  millions.  Christian  nations  have  mur- 
dered more  heathen  than  they  have  converted 
during  the  nineteenth  century. 

Roman  Catholicism  is  a  great  hindrance  to 
evangelism  wherever  it  exists  in  mission-fields.^ 
Sometimes  the  priests  stir  up  the  heathen,  and 
join  with  them  to  exterminate  Protestant  work 
and  workers.  But  in  every  place  where  Roman- 
ism and  Protestant  missions  work  together,  the 
former  interferes  with  the  latter  in  two  ways : 
First,  it  requires  no  change  of  heart  and  life  in 
its  converts  ;  it  makes  no  spiritual  condition  to 
discipleship.  It  simply  substitutes  one  form  of 
idolatry  for  another.  It  requires  of  converts 
that  they  shall  be  baptized,  worship  the  image 
of  the  blessed  Virgin,  pay  Peter's  pence,  and  obey 
the  priests  ;  and  assures  salvation  as  the  result. 


198  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

In  villages  where  the  people  are  very  poor, 
and  have  no  temple  or  image,  they  paint  one  side 
of  a  large,  rough  rock  near  the  village  with  red, 
and  make  it  their  god.  The  poor  creatures  will 
worship  any  sort  of  thing  or  image.  When  the 
bronze  statue  of  Empress  Victoria  was  set  up 
in  Madras,  the  natives  were  so  bent  on  worship- 
ing it  that  the  police  had  to  interfere  to  prevent 
it.  The  Romish  priests  take  advantage  of  this 
bent  of  the  people,  and  attract  them  to  worship 
statues  of  the  Virgin.  I  have  seen  in  Madras  a 
statue  of  the  Virgin  standing  in  an  alcove  over 
the  entrance  to  a  Romish  chapel,  and  the  gran- 
ite base  on  which  the  statue  stood  was  plastered 
with  red  paint  to  attract  the  worship  of  the 
idolaters.  Romanism  is  the  worst  form  of  idol- 
atry on  earth,  because  it  is  mistaken  for  the  true 
light. 

Protestant  requirements  are  much  higher  and 
more  difficult  for  an  idolater  to  grasp,  because 
they  are  spiritual,  and  he  can  offer  no  more 
than  the  Romanist;  viz.,  salvation  as  the  reward. 
Besides,  the  Romanists  often  use  money  to  buy 
up  so-called  converts,  in  order  to  get  them  under 
their  power.  In  the  second  place,  evangelism 
is  hindered  by  Romanism  through  the  dead 
formality  and  immorality  of  Romish  Christians. 
The  heathen,  like  the  sinner  in  America,  knows 
nothing  of  Christianity  except  what  he  sees  in 


HINDRANCES  FROM  CHRISTIANITY.       199 

the  conduct  of  professed  Christians.  The  pres- 
ence in  many  pagan  lands  of  large  communities 
of  nominal  Christians,  who  exceed  the  average 
pagan  in  the  excess,  beastliness,  and  cruelty  of 
their  conduct,  neutralizes  the  sacrifices  and  toils 
of  many  missionaries. 

It  was  this  religious  deadness  and  moral  de- 
pravity of  the  two  or  three  millions  of  English 
and  Eurasian  professed  Christians  in  India  that 
Bishop  Taylor  saw  was  the  block  in  the  way 
of  the  conversion  of  the  heathen.  He  at  once 
started  on  his  four  years'  campaign  to  evangel- 
ize these  Christians.  The  succass  of  his  efforts, 
and  of  those  who  succeeded  him,  has  given  us 
live  English-speaking  Churches  all  over  India, 
and  some  of  the  best  missionaries  in  the  world. 


Chapter  VlII. 

THE  GOSPEL  THE  ONLY  HOPE. 

THE  people  of  India  are  not  an  inferior  race. 
They  are  of  the  same  parentage  and  stock 
as  the  Germanic  races,  which  people  most  of 
Europe  and  North  America.  The  Hindu-Ger- 
manic family-is  of  Aryan  stock,  and  is  superior 
to  all  other  branches.  "The  ancestors  of  the 
Hindus,  the  English,  and  other  Aryan  nations," 
says  Max  Miiller,  "had  once  the  same  faith,  and 
worshiped  for  a  time  the  same  Supreme  Deity, 
under  exactly  the  same  name — a  name  which 
meant  Heaven  Father." 

If  the  Hindu  branch,  that  migrated  south- 
ward from  the  central  Asian  home  of  the  fam- 
ily, had  come  west,  and  our  ancestors  had  gone 
south,  and  thus  the  circumstances  and  condi- 
tions met  by  each  branch  had  been  exchanged, 
our  positions  would  now  very  likely  be  reversed,- 
and  they  would  be  sending  missionaries  to  en- 
lighten us.  The  great  difference  we  find  be- 
tween these  two  branches  of  the  same  family 
speaks  forcefully  for  the  Divine  power  of  Chris- 
tianity, which,  a  little  more  than  a  thousand 
years  ago,  rescued  the  Germanic  branch  from 

200 


THE  GOSPEL  THE  ONLY  HOPE.         201 

the  depths  of  the  grossest  barbarism,  and  en- 
abled them  to  bring  forth  the  modern  age  of 
progress  and  Christian  civilization.  The  dis- 
puting unbeliever  would  call  attention  to  differ- 
ence in  climate,  and  other,  accidental  causes,  in 
accounting  for  the  present  superiority  of  both 
the  man  and  the  civilization  of  the  Western 
branch.  It  is,  however,  a  mistaken  notion  that 
hot  climates  are  not  favorable  to  the  highest  art, 
culture,  and  civilization.  Modern  science  was 
born  in  Arabia,  the  hottest  country  in  the  world. 
The*  universities  of  Bagdad,  Alexandria,  and 
of  other  tropical  centers,  make  most  of  those  of 
which  we  are  so  proud  in  modern  times  seem 
almost  trifling.  Eighteen  years  were  required 
to  complete  the  course  of  study.  Science,  art, 
literature,  philosophy,  and  religion  were  all 
born,  and  for  the  most  part  matured,  in  tropical 
or  semi-tropical  climates.  In  our  boasted  mod- 
ern civilization  of  the  temperate  zone,  we  are 
merely  learning  to  make  practical  use  of  .the 
splendid  achievements  of  those  in  torrid  climes, 
who,  centuries  ago,  penetrated  to  nature's  heart, 
and  brought  to  light  her  secrets. 

The  fundamental  difference  is  not  of  climate, 
nor  of  any  external  condition,  but  of  faith— of 
religion.  True  religion  is  a  key-position,  on 
which,  if  one  be  right,  all  other  things  come 
into  order.  Having  "  first  the  kingdom  of  God 


202  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

and  his  righteousness,  all  these  things  shall  be 
added."  Just  so  far  as  we  are  nearer  right  in 
this  than  our  Hindu  brethren,  just  to  that  ex- 
tent we  are  superior  to  them  on  other  lines. 
They  are  in  the  fell  grip  of  two  strongholds, 
under  which  a  great  brood  of  evil  laws  and 
customs,  which  oppress  certain  classes  to  the 
seeming  advantage  of  others,  are  brought  forth. 
Thus  the  whole  system,  by  which  every  mem- 
ber of  the  community  is  degraded  and  op- 
pressed, is  bound  upon  them  by  being  -in- 
trenched in  their  selfishness  and  fears.  The . 
two  strpngholds  I  refer  to — in  which  the  entire 
Hindu  community  is  helpless — are  idolatry  and 
caste.  Idolatry  holds  the  people  down  in  every 
sense.  In  a  village,  situated  in  a  malarial  dis- 
trict of  Southern  India,  a  well-to-do  native  citi- 
zen had  a  mind  to  build  a  second  story  to  his 
dwelling.  He  informed  his  neighbors  of  his 
intentions;  and,  after  considering  the  matter, 
they  interfered  to  check  him,  giving  as  their 
reason  that  the  swaney — that  is,  the  village 
idol — lived  in  a  one-story  house,  and  no  man 
should  rise  above  his  god.  Arid  they  actually 
prevented  the  man,  who  had  the  means,  from 
raising  himself  and  family  above  the  poisonous 
surface  atmosphere. 

A   recognized    authority    on    these    subjects 
says:  "Caste  is  the  chief  characteristic  of  Hin- 


THE  GOSPEL  THE  ONLY  HOPE.         203 

duism.  Caste  and  Hinduism  must  fall  together; 
for  whatever  may  be  the  evils  of  the  former, 
the  masses  believe  that  it  has  religious  sanc- 
tion, and  must  be  observed  at  all  cost."  The 
late  reformer,  Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  said: 
"Were  I  engaged  in  the  work  of  reforming 
this  Country,  I  should  not  busy  myself  in  lop- 
ping off  the  branches,  but  I  should  strike  at  the 
fatal  root  of  the  tree  of  corruption;  namely, 
idolatry.  Ninety-nine  evils  out  of  every  hun- 
dred in  Hindu  society  are,  in  my  opinion,  at- 
tributable to  idolatry  and  superstition."  By 
what  weapon  can  this  blow  to  "the  fatal  root" 
be  struck?  Many  would  respond:  "Education 
and  modern  civilization  will  prove  effective." 
But,  powerful  as  these  agencies  are,  we  regret 
to  say  they  are  not  sufficient  to  work  the  neces- 
sary transformation.  The  difficulty  is,  the  Hin- 
dus love  their  idolatry 'and  caste.  They  defend 
them  in  the  name  of  national  spirit,  and  of 
patriotism,  and  of  respect  to  ancestry,  and  so 
on;  and  keep  them  intrenched  within  the  cita- 
del of  conservatism.  Civilization  and  education 
are  imported  novelties  to  them,  that  the  masses 
know  little  or  nothing  about.  When  a  college 
graduate  starts  to  England  to  complete  his  edu- 
cation, he  is  bound  under  the  most  solemn  vows 
to  remain  true  to  the  faith  of  his  fathers;  and 
when  he  returns,  with  the  highest  school-train- 


204  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

ing  the  world  affords,  he  must  make  expiation 
for  the  necessary  transgression  of  caste  while 
away  from  his  native  land.  It  did  seem  for  a 
time  that  education,  and  other  Western  influ- 
ences, would  conquer  these  strongholds  of  dark- 
ness; but  of  late  years  a  strong  reactionary 
tendency  has  shown  itself,  and  this  very  educa- 
tion is  being  turned  to  the  defense  of  the  an- 
cient thralldom.  "A  whole  literature  of  pon- 
derous tomes  is  springing  up  in  Southern  India, 
with  no  other  object  than  the  exaltation  of 
caste." 

The  following  quotations  are  from  leading 
educators  long  in  the  service  of  the  Government 
universities  of  India.  Principal  Wordsworth 
speaks  of  the  large  class  of  educated  natives, 
whose  learning  is  employed  to  "vindicate  su- 
perstition and  tyranny."  Again,  he  speaks  of 
a  notable  advocate  of  reform  as  "  fighting  single- 
handed."  Mr.  Sherring  goes  so  far  as  to  say 
that,  with  some  noble  exceptions,  those  who 
have  had  the  advantages  of  education  are,  "of 
all  classes,  the  most  disappointing.  With  all 
their  weight  of  learning,  the  possession  of  which 
enables  them  to  carry  university  degrees  and 
honors,  they  are  perfectly  content  to  mingle 
among  the  most  superstitious  and  ignorant 
Hindus,  to  do  as  they  do,  to  obey  their  foolish 
dictum  as  law,  and  to  have  no  other  aim  in  life 


THE  GOSPEL  THE  ONLY  HOPE.         205 

than  to  conform  to  the  most  rigid  usages  of  their 
ancestors." 

Mr.  Cotton,  an  unexceptionable  witness,  speaks 
*in  similar  strain:  "Caste  exercises  a  predomi- 
nant influence  among  all  classes  of  the  com- 
munity. Educated  Hindus  are  puzzled  to  make 
out  what  they  owe  to  their  society,  and  why 
they  render  to  caste  their  tribute  of  submission, 
when  there  is  nothing  to  compel  their  obedi- 
ence. Nevertheless,  the  institution  is  as  power- 
ful among  those  who  disregard  many  of  its 
rules  as  it  was  with  their  fathers,  who  rigidly 
observed  them  all.  They  find  it  as  hard  to 
bear  excommunication  themselves,  and  are  as 
disposed  to  inflict  that  punishment  upon  wrong- 
doers of  their  community,  as  were  their  ances- 
tors in  the  past.  They  find  it  as  desirable  to 
cling  to  their  caste-fellows,  despite  many  disa- 
greeable features  in  their  life  and  character,  as 
their  predecessors  may  have  done." 

Quotations  like  these,  from  candid  men  of 
experience  in  all  parts  of  India,  testifying  to 
the  failure  of  purely  educational  and  civilizing 
influences  to  break  the  power  of  idolatry  and 
caste,  could  be  multiplied  indefinitely;  but  one 
additional  on  this  line  must  suffice.  Principal 
Wordsworth,  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the 
warmest  friends  of  India,  and  from  his  position 
having  the  best  means  of  ascertaining  the  truth, 


206  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

makes  the  following  severe  remarks  regarding 
the  action  of  some  educated  Hindus :  u  I  need 
hardly  say  that  I  consider  the  existence  of  the 
Hindu  child-widow  one  of  the  darkest  blots 
that  ever  defaced  the  civilization  of  any  people, 
and  it  is  the  direct  and  necessary  consequence 
of  the  system  of  infant  marriage.  Some  years 
ago  I  should  have  expected  that  these  senti- 
ments would  have  found  an  echo  in  the  bosom 
of  every  Hindu  who  had  received  an  English 
education,  and  particularly  among  those  persons 
who  were  attempting  to  appropriate  the  polit- 
ical methods  and  ideas  of  Englishmen.  I  have 
no  such  delusion  now.  I  find  some  of  them 
employing  all  the  resources  of  theological  soph- 
istry and  cant,  not  simply  to  palliate,  but  to 
vindicate  what  is  plainly  one  of  the  most  cruel, 
blighting,  and  selfish  forms  of  human  supersti- 
tion and  tyranny.  I  find  others  maneuvering 
to  arrest  every  sincere  effort  at  reform;  sophis- 
ticating between  right  and  wrong;  defaming 
the  character  and  motives  of  reformers ;  and 
laboring  to  establish,  by  arguments  as  ridiculous 
as  they  are  insulting,  that  English  domestic  so- 
ciety offers  a  warning  rather  than  an  example 
to  Hindus!  I  find  them  vindicating  early  mar- 
riage as  the  only  safeguard  against  universal 
sexual  license,  a  confession  of  moral  incompe- 
tence which  I  should  have  thought  that  any 


THE  GOSPEL  THE  ONLY  HOPE.         207 

people  with  a  grain  of  self-respect  would  have 
shrunk  from  advancing." 

There  are  so-called  reformers ;  but  their  re- 
forming goes  no  farther  than  speech-making. 
A  native  newspaper  thus  compares  their  public 
and  private  life:  "A  Demosthenes  at  debating 
societies,  whose  words  tell  as  peals  of  thunder; 
a  Luther  in  his  public  protestations  against  pre- 
vailing corruptions ;  a  thorough-going  cockney 
in  ideas  and  tastes, — he  is  but  a  timid,  crouch- 
ing Hindu  in  his  home,  yielding  unquestioning 
submission  to  the  requisitions  of  a  superstitious 
family." 

Education  does  not  give  these  people  the 
force  to  free  themselves.  There  are  many  who 
long  to  see  caste  abolished,  and  to  be  set  free 
from  idolatry ;  but  they  hav£  not  the  force  to 
break  away  themselves,  and,  braving  excommu- 
nication, become  the  leaders  of  a  national  re- 
form movement.  A  prominent  official  of  the 
empire  says  in  a  .letter  to  a  friend :  "  Only  a 
great  religious  revival  can  furnish  sufficient 
moral  strength  to  work  out  the  complex  social 
problems  which  demand  our  attention."  T^o 
become,  like. Luther,  tne  leader  of  a  great  relig- 
ious reform,  one  must  rise  from  his  own  cringing 
servitude  to  that  which  he  would  reform,  and 
live  and  walk  by  faith  in  God.  The  gospel  is 
the  only  hope;  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  is  the 


208  Tiro  YEARS  AV  INDIA. 

only  weapon  that  can  strike  the  effective  blow 
at  "  the  fatal  root."  //  is  sufficient.  Let  evan- 
gelism go  first;  then  education  and  all  other 
benefits  of  "Christianity  will  follow  in  richest 
blessing. 

The  words  of  the  great  Dr.  Duff  may  be  appro- 
priately added:  "What,  then,  can  exorcise  this 
demon  spirit  of  caste?  Nothing — nothing  but 
the  mighty  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  quicken- 
ing, renewing,  and  sanctifying  the  whole  Hindu 
soul.  It  is  grace,  and  not  argument;  regener- 
ation of  nature,  and  not  any  improved  policy  of 
government;  in  a  word,  the  gospel — the  ever- 
lasting gospel,  and  that  alone,  savingly  brought 
home  by  the  energy  of  Jehovah's  Spirit,  that 
can  effectually  root  out  and  destroy  the  gigantic 
evil.  And  it  is  the  same  energy,  in  working 
through  the  same  gospel  of  grace  and  salva- 
tion, that  can  and  will  root  out  and  destroy  the 
other  monster  evil  under  which  India  still 
groans — Idolatry^  with  its  grim  satellite,  Super- 
stition. As  caste  and  idolatry  sprang  up  to- 
gether from  the  same  rank  soil  of  old  nature ; 
growing  with  each  other's  growth,  and  strength- 
ening with  each  other's  strength  ;•  luxuriating 
in  mutual  embrace  and  mysterious  wedlock  for 
untold  ages ;  flinging  abroad  their  arms,  *  branch- 
ing so  broad  and  long'  as  to  smite  the  whole 
land  with  the  blight  of  their  portentous 


THE  GOSPEL  THE  ONLY  HOPE.         209 

shadow, — both  are  destined  to  fall  together. 
The  same  cause  will  inevitably  prove  the  ruin 
of  both.  The  same  light  of  sound  knowledge, 
human  and  Divine,  accompanied  by  the  grace  of 
God's  Spirit,  will  expose  the  utter  folly  and  irra- 
tionality of  idolatry  and  superstition,  and,  at  one 
and  the  same  time,  lay  bare  the  cruelty  and  in- 
justice of  that  strange,  half-natural,  half-artificial 
caste  system,  which  has  done  so  much  to  uphold 
them.  Then  will  the  stupendous  fabric  of  idol- 
atry be  seen  falling  down  like  Dagon  before  the 
Ark  of  the  living  God;  while  the  anti-social, 
tyrannous  dominion  of  caste  will  be  resented, 
abhorred,  and  trampled  under  foot  with  an  in- 
dignation not  lessened  by  the  reflection  that, 
over  ages  and  generations  without  number,  it 
hath  already  swayed  undisturbed  the  scepter  of 
a  ruthless  despotism  which  ground  men  down 
to  the  condition  of  irrationals,  and  strove  to 
keep  them  there  with  the  rigor  of  a  merciless 
necessity." 

Let  Milton's  noble  prayer  conclude  the  chap- 
ter: "Come  forth  from  thy  royal  chambers,  O 
Prince  of  all  the  kings  of  the  earth!  Put  on 
the  visible  robes  of  thy  Imperial  Majesty; 
take  up  that  unlimited  scepter  which  thy  Al- 
mighty Father  hath  bequeathed  thee ;  for  now 
the  voice  of  thy  bride  calls  thee,  and  all  crea- 
tures sigh  to  be  renewed." 

14 


Chapter  IX. 
RESPONSIBILITY  OF  STEWARDSHIP. 

MONEY  is  power.  The  use  it  is  put  to  de- 
termines the  kind  of  power.  It  is  saloon 
power,  tobacco  power,  political,  power,  social 
power,  fashion  power,  commercial  power,  edu- 
cational power,  gospel  power,  just  so  far  as  it 
serves  in  these  lines.  Money  is  the  means  by 
which  one  sets  in  motion  agencies  to  do  his 
will,  and  through  which  he  exercises  the  in- 
fluence of  his  personality  and  principles  upon 
the  world.  The  selfish  and  narrow  view  of 
money-getting  is  to  regard  a  man  as  engaged 
in  the  toil  of  life  merely  to  make  a  living  or 
to  accumulate  lucre  to  spend  on  himself  and 
those  near  him.  The  soul  of  such  thinking  is, 
that  earth  affords  only  a  scant  sustenance,  and 
each  one  "must  grab  for  himself;  and  the  more 
he  can  get,  the  better  living  he  may  enjoy. 
Such  thinking  rules  men  in  their  struggles  to 
accumulate,  in  their  use  of  the  money  they 
acquire,  and  in  their  judgment  of  the  justice 
or  injustice  of  the  laws  and  circumstances 
by  which  .some  get  rich  while  many  make 
only  a  living.  But  there  is  certainly  a  more 


210 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  STEWARDSHIP.       211 

ennobling  thought  for  Christians,  both  as  to 
our  own  purpose  and  in  judging  our  com- 
petitors. The  more  money  one  can  make,  the 
greater '  influence  he  can  wield.  Every  Chris- 
tian is  responsible  to  God  for  wielding  the 
greatest  possible  influence;  hence,  every  Chris- 
tian should  make  all  the  money  he  can,  without 
in  any  way  crippling  his  goflly  influence,  and 
use  all  he  makes  in  promoting  the  highest 
interests  of  his  race.  This  implies  a  comfort- 
able living  for  himself  and  family,  the  educa- 
tion and  equipment  for  usefulness  of  his  chil- 
dren (which  means  the  support  of  Church  and 
State  and  school  and  like  institutions);  then, 
the  further  enforcement  of  Christian  principles 
and  heralding  abroad  of  the  glad  message  of 're- 
demption, as  far  as  his  means  enable  him  to 
do.  The  philosophy  of  hoarding  for  money's 
sake,  is  idolatry;  that  of  piling  up  for  children, 
is  pessimism. 

The  world  is  dying  from  lack  of  the  felt 
power  of  redeemed  personality  and  principles 
of  divinely  imparted  righteousness.  We  need 
more  men  who  are  "  rich  toward  God  "  in  their 
worldly  possessions.  There  are  not  too  many 
rich  men,  but  too  many  poor  rich  men.  How" 
did  Jesus  become  poor  for  our  sakes,  that  we 
through  his  poverty  might  be  rich  ?  He  in- 
vested all  he  had,  even  his  life,  for  us,  cast  his 


212  Tiro  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

bread  upon  the  waters,  and  awaits  its  return  to 
him.  He  would  say  to  each  of  us  with  means 
small  or  great :  "  If  thou  wouldst  share  with  me, 
go  thou  and  do  likewise."  "  Then  Jesus  called 
his  disciples  unto  him,  and  sard,  I  have  com- 
passion on  the  multitude,  because  they  continue 
with  me  now  three  days  and  have  nothing  to 
eat :  and  I  will  not  send  them  away  fasting,  lest 
they  faint  in  the  way.  And  his  disciples  say 
unto  him,  Whence  should  we  have  so  much 
bread  in  the  wilderness,  as  to  fill  so  great  a  mul- 
titude ?  .  .  .  And  he  took  the  seven  loaves 
and  the  fishes,  and  gave  thanks,  and  brake  them, 
and  gave  to  his  disciples,  and  the  disciples  to 
the  multitude.  And  they  did  all  eat  and  were 
filled :  and  they  took  up  of  the  broken  meat 
that  was  left  seven  baskets  full."  (Matt,  xv, 

32»  33»  36»  and  37-) 

This  assembly  in  the  desert  is  humanity  in 

miniature  as  it  has  been  spiritually  ever  since. 
We  have  here,  (i)  The  Savior.  (2)  Twelve  dis- 
ciples, together  constituting  the  infant  Church. 
(3)  A  multitude  of  four  thousand  men,  with 
women  and  children,  probably  aggregating  at 
least  ten  thousand.  (4)  Great  [physical  need; 
three  days  with  little  food,  so  hungered  that 
should  they  have  gone  to  search  for  food  many 
would  have  fainted  by  the  way.  (5)  A  very 
scant  supply ;  not  enough  for  the  Savior  and 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  STEWARDSHIP.      213  - 

disciples  alone.  (6)  Selfish  questionings  aud 
fear  of  the  unbelieving  disciples,  and  the  com- 
passion of  the  Savior  for  the  host.  (7)  Never- 
theless, the  consecration  and  delivery  of  what 
they  had  to  the  Master's  hand.  (8)  The  multi- 
tude satisfied,  and  much  remaining. 

This  picture  indicates  the  present  spiritual 
situation  of  mankind.  Looking  from  the  human 
side  we  see,  (i)  The  Savior.  (2)  The  disciples. 
One-fifth  of  the  race,  or  about  five  hundred  mill- 
ions, are  more  or  less  under  the  influence  of 
Christianity.  One-fifth  of  these,  or  perhaps  one 
hundred  millions,  are  quite  thoroughly  evangel- 
ized. A  still  smaller  number  than  this  are  de- 
vout and  intelligent  communicants — the  true 
followers  of  Christ.  (3)  The  multitude.  At  least 
ten  hundred  millions,  or  two  thirds  of  the  hu- 
man race,  in  entire  ignorance  of  the  gospel,  and 
all  of  the  other  one-third,  save  one  hundred 
millions,  in  great  spiritual  darkness  and  need. 
Fourteen-fifteenths  of  mankind  are  in  almost 
as  great  helplessness  as  men  were  nineteen  cen- 
turies ago  when  the  angels  first  proclaimed  the 
glad  news  over  the  moonlit  flanks  and  folds  of 
Judean  hills.  A  vast  multitude  is  still  waiting 
under  the  cruel  oppression  of  fear,  born  of  the 
superstitions  of  ignorance,  for  a  coming  Re- 
deemer. They  burn  in  the  fires  of  their  own 
passions.  They  are  galled  to  despair  in  the 


214  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

thralldoin  of  the  giant  institutions  of  immemo- 
rial antiquity.  They  are  storm-tossed  and 
wrecked  in  voyages  to  sacred  shrines  ;  robbed, 
murdered,  plague-smitten,  buried  by  the  merci- 
less simoon  in  burning  desert  sands.  They  are 
enduring  hardships  unheard  of,  sufferings  un- 
speakable^ on  weary  pilgrimages,  and  ;n  brutal 
self-tortures  in  hopeless  searches  for  the  bread 
of  life.  (4)  The  scant  supply.  We  are  not  dif- 
ferent from  the  twelve  disciples.  We  ask : 
"  How  can  we  give  the  bread  of  life  to  so  vast 
a  multitude  ?"  They  said  :  "  We  have  but  seven 
loaves  and  a  few  little  fishes."  We  say :  "  We 
are  too  poor ;  we  can  not  provide  for  our  own 
needs.  Whence  can  so  much  be  accomplished 
here  in  this  spiritual  desert  ?  It  can  not  be  done. 
We  must  look  out  for  ourselves,  lest  we  scarcely 
be  saved  from  the  wreck  and  ruin  of  all  hu- 
manity. Send  the  multitude  away  that  they 
may  provide  for  themselves ;  do  not  let  them 
look  to  us,  nor  ask  us  to  be  burdened  with  them. 
We  have  not  enough  for  ourselves."  Under 
such  a  spirit,  many  yield  to  inaction. 

But  let  us  try  to  see  as  the  Savior  sees,  (i) 
He  has  a  different  spirit,  and  sees  by  faith  the 
inexhaustible  resources.  He  is  not  anxious  for 
himself  or  the  disciples.  He  has  compassion  on 
the  multitude.  For  them  he  is  moved  with  pity, 
sympathy,  love,  helpfulness.  He  rebukes  the 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  STEWARDSHIP.      215 

disciples'  selfishness.  He  would  say  :  "  '  Have 
faith  in  God.'  Trust  yourselves  to  him,  forget- 
ting your  need.  l  Give  ye  them  to  eat.'"  Our 
lack  is  not  in  poverty  of  means,  but  in  our 
faithlessness.  Jesus  Christ  is  with  us  as  he  was 
with  them  in  the  desert.  He  has  not  merely 
left  us  the  gospel  as  an  instrument  by  which 
we  alone  are  to  save  the  world ;  he  still  re- 
mains in  the  lead  of  evangelism,  and  the  same 
infiuiteness  is  behind  the  consecrated  offerings 
of  the  Church  for  supplying  the  world's  soul 
needs  that  was  behind  the  loaves  and  fishes 
with  which  Jesus  fed  the  multitude.  (2)  He 
sees  a  very  different  use  to  which  our  scant 
means  are  to  be  devoted.  We  look  upon  the 
little  we  have  as  our  only  supply,  and  would 
hold  it  for  our  own  exclusive  benefit ;  but  the 
Savior  requires  that  it  be  consecrated  to  his 
will  and  delivered  into  his  hand,  not  because  he 
is  unconscious  or  indifferent  to  his  disciples' 
need,  but  because  he  wishes  to  save  the  multi- 
tude as  well,  and  this  consecration  of  the  little 
we  have  is-  necessary  to  that  end.  "  Fear  not, 
O  disciples !"  hear  him  say,  "  as  I  fear  not  for 
myself.  You  have  me  for  your  Savior.  You 
will  never  lose  me  nor  come  to  want.  You  will 
never  lose  me,  nor  be  lost  while  working  with 
me  to  save  others."  You,  knowing  the  Savior, 
are  in  eternal  safety.  The  multitude  with  no 


216  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

Savior  is  in  midnight  despair.  Notwithstand- 
ing all  your  need,  "give  ye  them  to  eat."  If 
we  will  do  all  we  can,  the  Savior  will  make 
abundance,  the  multitude  will  be  saved,  and 
much  will  still  remain. 

It  is  the  law  of  Christian  distribution  that 
we  must  come  to  the  Master  of  the  feast  with 
emptied  baskets.  The  emptied  basket  shows 
faith,  obedience,  enthusiastic  love.  It  speaks  a 
powerful  language  and  is  a  successful  pleader. 
It  is  useless  to  ask  for  increased  power  to  do 
good  when  we  are  not  using  all  we  have.  Much 
of  the  praying  for  missions  is  useless,  for  the 
answer  is  forestalle'd.  When  one  with  basket, 
pockets,  and  arms  full  of  ability  to  send  forth 
laborers  into  the  great  unevangelized  fields 
where  the  grain  droops  in  waiting  for  the  sickle, 
prays  the  Lord  to  send  forth  laborers,  while  he 
tightens  his  grasp  on  what  God  has  given  him 
to  send  them  with,  be  sure  his  prayer  can  not 
be  answered,,  except  by  some  stroke  which 
would  transfer  his  means  to  more  liberal  hands. 
Such  praying  is  mockery  and  blasphemy.  It 
accuses  God  of  the  stinginess  of  the  miserly 
suppliant. 

The  littleness  of  our  means  is  no  valid  ex- 
cuse for  not  delivering  ft  to  the  Lord.  The  one 
talent  must  yield  its  return  as  well  as  the  five, 
and  the  punishment  for  its  non-use  and  the 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  STEWARDSHIP.      217 

reward  of  its  use  are  just  as  great.  Given  into 
the  Savior's  hand,  our  offerings,  little  or  great, 
will  be  as  the  planted  mustard-seed,  the  little 
leaven  in  the  measure  of  meal,  the  handful  of 
corn  on  the  mountain,  the  seven  loaves  and  the 
few  little  fishes — yes,  the  cloud  no  bigger  than 
a  man's  hand  that  God  shall  multiply  into 
amazing  greatness. 

Selfishness  always  seeks  the  hiding  of  ex- 
cuse to  escape  duty-doing.  It  tries  to  take  a 
stand  against  giving  to  foreign  missions,  be- 
cause it  is  in  favor  of  the  home  work.  This 
excuse  is  not  valid:  (i)  Because  home  and  for- 
eign missions  have  been  mutual  stimulants. 
Much  more  is  done  at  home  than  would  be  if 
we  had  no  missions  abroad.  The  same  spirit 
that  sends  gospel  help  to  China  and  Africa, 
sends  it  to  the  foreign  influx,  the  mining-camps, 
and  the  city  slums  of  our  own  land  as  well.  Mis- 
sions of  all  kinds  are  children  of  the  gospel 
spirit,  and  he  who  favors  one  must  favor  all. 
(2)  Because  Methodism  is  the  greatest  home- 
mission  Church  in  America,  as  well  as  the 
greatest  in  the  foreign  work.  We  all  recognize 
our  own  land  as  the  most  important  mission- 
field  on  earth  for  Americans.  With  even  Bishop 
Taylor  this  is  a  common  remark. 

Let  us  see  how  fully  our  Church  realizes  and 
acts  upon  this  principle.  Remember  that  each 


2i8  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

* 

Church  is  a  home-mission  station,  and  we  are 
spending  over  eight  millions  a  year  for  regular 
work  in  America.  But  leaving  this  out  of  the 
calculation,  let  us  compare  only  what  may  be 
called  missionary  grants.  We  gave  for  the 
home  work  as  follows : 

From  the  Missionary  Society's  funds,  in  1891,  $478,562  69 
Freedmen's  Aid  and  Southern  Education  So- 
ciety   322,656  oo 

Church  Extension  (approximately), 225,000  oo 

Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society,  cash  and 

supplies, * 316,222  oo 

Children's-day  collections 74,577  oo 


Total $1416,917  69 

This  omits  tract  and  Bible  causes,  and  all 
that  was  given  to  local  educational  and  other 
enterprises.  We  sent  abroad,  the  same  year: 

Missionary  Society  funds » $576,042 

Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  funds,  .    .    .    263,660 


Total, $839,702 

This  is  all  that  was  sent  abroad,  with  the 
exception  of  some  small  grants  from  the  Sun- 
day-school Union  and  Tract  Societies. 

Now,  let  us  make  some  other  comparisons, 
to  show  what  a  home-mission  Church  Method- 
ism is.  We  had,  in  1890,  in  all,  23,350  churches. 
Of  these,  but  581 — about  two  and  a  half  per 
cent — are  outside  of  the  United  States.  The 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  STEWARDSHIP.      219 

total  value  of  our  church  property  was  $99,- 
000,000,  of  which  less  than  $2,000,060 — less 
than  two  per  cent — is  outside  of  the  United 
States.  We  have,  in  all,  15,877  traveling  preach- 
ers; but  182  of  these,  and  122  missionaries  of 
the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society — a 
total  of  304;  less  than  two  per  cent  in  all — are 
beyond  our  borders.  On  the  line  of  education, 
the  value  of  buildings  and  grounds  is,  in  the 
United  States,  $13,000,000.  Value  of  the  same 
in  all  other  lands  is  $400,000,  or  three  per  cent. 
This  was  partly  received  from  foreign  sources. 
Value  of  endowments  and  endowment  proper- 
ties, in  the  United  States,  over  $22,000,000; 
and  less  than  $400,000 — about  two  per  cent — 
abroad,  and  this  largely  received  from  foreign 
sources. 

The  comparison  shows  that  only  about  one- 
fiftieth  of  the  Church's  strength  is  expended 
abroad.  No  complaint  is  made.  This  should 
be  so.  But  no  one  has  any  valid  excuse  for  not 
giving  to  the  cause  of  missions  on  this  line. 
While  only  two  per  cent  of  the  Church's  strength 
is  abroad,  eleven  per  cent  of  the  increase  in 
membership,  in  1890,  was  in  the  foreign  field — 
total  increase,  100,000;  out  of  the  United  States, 
11,000. 

We  have  been  praying  the  Lord  of  the  har- 
vest to  send  forth  laborers,  and  the  laborers  are 


220  Two  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

ready  to  go.  Our  Missionary  Society  could  send 
one  hundred  missionaries  in  ninety  days,  if  they 
had  the  money.  We  have  prayed  God  to  let 
us  Christianize  the  heathen,  and  they  are  coin- 
ing faster  than  we  are  willing  to  furnish  the 
means  to  baptize  them  and  give  them  pastoral 
care. 

Twenty  thousand  in  India  are  anxiously 
waiting  for  us  to  send  them  some  one  to  help 
them  to  the  Christian  life.  Money  is  mighty 
now  to  help  the  gospel.  In  India,  thirty-five 
dollars  will  build  a  church  that  can  not  be 
built  without  the  money;  thirty  dollars  will 
enable  a  pastor-teacher,  who  can  not  otherwise 
give  his  time  to  this  work,  to  labor  in  the 
blessed  harvest  for  twelve  months ;  fifteen  dol- 
lars will  send  a  boy  to  a  Christian  boarding- 
school  a  year ;  and  thirty  dollars  will  keep  a 
young  man  in  college,  fitting  himself  for  the 
ministry,  the  year  through.  We  have  no  ade- 
quate conception  of  the  power  of  our  little 
offerings  to  do  good  in  these  lands.  Many  a 
Christian  squanders  the  salary  of  two  pastor- 
teachers  every  year  for  tobacco.  God  gives 
him  the  means  to  send  the  gospel  and  a  rudi- 
mentary education  to  two  communities  of  peo- 
ple who  are  famishing  for  the  light ;  and  he 
selfishly  wastes  it,  indulging  himself  in  a  filthy, 
injurious  habit.  O  for  the  day  when  Christians 


OF  STEWARDSHIP.      221 

will  cease  extravagance  and  waste,  and,  living  in 
plain  and  simple  style,  will  devote  their  means 
to  the  service  of  the  Savior's  cause !  How  can 
a  Christian  man  smoke  a  five-cent  cigar  with 
comfort  of  conscience,  when,  in  so  doing,  he 
consumes  one  month's  Christian  schooling  of 
some  poor  heathen  child  ?  The  man  who 
smokes  one  five-cent  cigar  a  day,  robs  thirty 
children  of  their  only  hope  of  rising  above  the 
cruel  thralldom  of  their  hereditary  helplessness. 
Suppose  Jesus  were  living  in  your  place  or 
mine,  what  would  he  do  concerning  this  mis- 
sionary cause?  When  one  has  decided  this,  he 
has  found  the  line  of  his  own  duty.  It  is  a 
helpful  question  to  ask  in  other  matters,  as 
well. 

Let  those  to  whom  much  is  given,  give 
much;  but  let  him  who  has  little,  give  all  he 
can.  Let  each  boy  and  girl,  man  and  woman, 
have  his  box,  not  of  precious  ointment  to  pour 
upon  the  Savior's  head,  but  of  savings  for  the 
Lord's  treasury  to  give  wings  and  voice  to  the 
gospel  message,  that  the  wilderness  and  the  soli- 
tary place  may  be  made  glad,  and  the  desert  to 
rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose. 

It  seems  fitting  that  the  following  words 
from  Bishop  Thoburn  should  conclude  this 
little  book.  May  the  spirit  that  actuates  him 
become  the  common  spirit  of  Christendom ! — 


222  TVo  YEARS  IN  INDIA. 

* 

^'These  are  wonderful  times.  This  long-slum- 
bering Eastern  world  is  waking  up.  The  Sun  of 
righteousness  is  mounting  higher  in  the  heavens. 
The  darkness  of  heathenism  is  beginning  to 
flee  away,  and  Christians  are  taking  heart  as 
never  before.  The  time  has  come  for  our  dear 
friends  in  America  to  open  wide  their  eyes  and 
see  the  wonderful  signs  of  promise  which  God 
is  displaying  before  their  gaze.  Every  Chris- 
tian should  thank  God  that  he  is  permitted  to 
live  in  such  an  era  in  the  world's  history.  Let 
us  all  prove  worthy  of  our  opportunities,  and 
worthy  of  the  blessed  name  we  bear.  Let  us 
act  and  talk  and  pray  as  those  who  realize  that 
they  bear  the  name  of  the  Savior  of  men  and 
are  to  be  known  by  that  name  forever.  If  all 
Christians  in  all  lands  could  only  realize  for  a 
few  short  years  their  unspeakable  privileges  and 
responsibilities,  the  work  of  the  world's  conver- 
sion would  soon  be  accomplished." 


THE   END. 


w .  --' 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


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